


I’ll let you win

by Graciethekay



Category: Falsettos - Lapine/Finn (Broadway Cast) RPF, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-20
Updated: 2020-07-20
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:15:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 30
Words: 83,445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25410739
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Graciethekay/pseuds/Graciethekay
Summary: Marvin Feldman of Feldman industries was the richest man in America, he was also, known to no one, as the superhero iron man.His son Jason, on the other hand, was trying to be a normal kid. But that’s difficult when you’re the son of a douchebag and a superhero in your spare time whilst still trying to graduate high school.It got even worse when he found out his parents were getting a divorce…
Relationships: Dr. Charlotte/Cordelia (Falsettos), Marvin/Trina (Falsettos), Trina/Mendel Weisenbachfeld, Whizzer Brown/Marvin
Comments: 26
Kudos: 17





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is going to be a marvel AU, I hope you enjoy, I’ve had fun with this one!

Though the darkness, a beam of light cascaded over the dusty bricks of the tunnel- Jason Feldman turned his head, cursing under his breath as he saw its source.

“Get to the side!”

The group of teenagers ahead of him instantly pressed themselves to the sides of the tunnel, making themselves as flat as humanly possible as the train flashed past them. In the glass, Jason could make out his reflection and the the almost dizzying speed it the windows let him question who he was for a brief second as his slightly curly hair whipped around his face. Suddenly the noise subsided and the tunnel seemed to be darker than before, the trains clunks echoing into background noise, and it seemed just too quiet.

“Are we all okay?” Someone ahead of him called.

The chorus of ‘yes’ was all he needed and they continued to walk along the tracks, careful not to touch them. The groups black clothes made it almost impossible to make out who was who, but soon enough they made it to a break in the tunnel where it became a bridge and the darkness subsided into the stars.

“Alright. How long have we got?”  
“Seven minutes- give or take.”  
“Jesus, that’s not enough time!”  
“Why didn’t we got the non-lethal, non- death way?”

Jason interjected through the bickering.  
“Seven minutes just became six-“ he quickly swung his backpack off of his shoulders, reaching into it and grabbing seventy five foot of rope, securing it to the support beams “- I know someone, who knows someone, who knows someone who works for Feldman industries- they nicked this for me.”

Not exactly a lie

“This shit is shock absorbent, non-stick, thin and best of all- does not give you friction burns!”

He tested his weight against the knots he had tied, finding them strong and sturdy. 

“I’ll see you down there!”

With a wink and a smile, he leapt off of the bridge and for a second, everything stopped. The maths started to replay in his head. Whizzer said that according to the blue prints the bridge was eighty foot tall, so the slight stretchy quality of the rope would let him got doe to approximately seventy-eight feet. Then the jump caught up with him and his stomach plunged. He could not breath- moving too fast for the oxygen to reach him. He took big gulping breaths, taking in only the bare minimum when suddenly the impact hit him as the bungee like material of the rope pulled him upwards. He dropped to the ground in a superhero position, rolled to the side and began to pant, finally taking in oxygen. 

“What are you waiting for?” Jason yelled up at his friends, a playful tone in his voice, he stood up only to fall face first into the dirt, “stupid iron deficiency,” he muttered under his breath. One by one the others slid down the rope, taking a much more cautious approach than the ‘just jump off and prey you do not die’ method Jason took.

“Yo Jason, thanks for convincing everyone to go on his way. I owe you one.” The boy pulled Jason into a bro hug and Jason could almost feel the relief soaking out of his friend.

“Pip, you’re the closest friend I got, I am never going to let you become a victim because of your race.”  
“That’s why you carry the weed!” Pip jokes  
“No. You are the only person who knows who my Dad is. If you are in any trouble, ever - call me, I’m sure he has ties.”

Philip and Jason had been each other’s best friends and confidants for years, the fact of Pips safety had been subject to many a conversation, especially since the almighty dick had been voted into presidency and the final push of the black lives matter protests leading to the senseless slaughter and violence of young men and women of colour. 

“Who has the weed?” Someone from the group shouted and pip and Jason took that as their lead to shy in the circle. A train tattled overhead on the bridge above them and Philip nudged Jason. 

“Just in time, huh.”

He took the joint out of the boy next to hims hand and took a long draw, coughing as it hit him and passed it over to Jason. 

“Bro, isn’t this bad for your asthma?” Jason asked him quietly. Philip only wheezed in reply. Jason did not argue, instead he passed the joint straight on before reaching into his backpack again and pulled out his own tobacco tin, filled with joints he hand rolled at home. The group stared at him.

“What? Germs are fucking gross!”

He lit it and took a few seconds to appreciate the edge it took off everything. Then he leapt up and rummaged through his backpack, finding his stencils and spray paint cans .Jason surveyed each wall- joint hanging out of the side of his mouth, and finally picked one. He removed the plastic backing and stuck the stencil down-grabbing the colours he needed. He only worked for ten minutes, but the paint fumes and the weed were beginning to get to his head and he realised he did not like what he was painting anymore and began to pick up different colours- ones he was not planning on using. Finally he stepped back, smiling as he admired his work.

“Holy shit!”  
“Does this count as treason?”  
“I think it’s perfect!”

The comment came from Philip and Jason turned to snails at his friends who seemed to be the only person who’s opinion mattered to him. He tuned back to his piece and added the final touch - a small copy of his initials in the corner, smiling as he did so. The spray paint dropped slightly down the piece and he had always liked the effect that it had given it. 

He took a long drag from his joint and sat back down in the circle listening in on the group’s conversation for a second before realising their stupidity. He wondered why her was even friends with them. Their conversations were hardly ‘exhilarating’ and tended to bore him with their simplicity. 

Jason was a smart kid, getting good grades, taking a lot of extra curricular subjects, speaking three languages, but he hung out with what his mother would call the ‘wrong crowd’. His only ‘real’ friends was Pip. 

He was woken from his daze by a small spider crawling over his ankle.

“Oh shit-“ he yelled leaping up and violently brushing his leg. His heartbeat rocketed as fear took a hold of him. “- get off of me you motherfucker!”

Jason began to hyperventilate and shake as he could not see the spider anymore and he started to sob, his body gave up and he fell to his knees. Philip was instantly standing by his side, enveloping him in a hug.

“Where’s the weed?” He asked in an urgent manner.

Someone passed pip the joint and he gave it to Jason, stroking his hair and whispering calming words in his ear and slowly Jason calmed down, embarrassment taking over him. 

“I’m so sorry” he whispered to Philip

Known you nobody the spider was still crawling up the back of Jason’s leg and into his black t shirt. He took a shaky inhale from the joint and at the exact moment he closed his eyes he felt a sharp stinging sensation on the back of his neck. He opened his eyes to see the world spinning, neon colours spiralling and for a second he saw everything in high definition. The painting of Donald Trump as a clown coming to life and stepping towards him, arms outstretched. He could hear the next train coming from miles away so he quickly shut his eyes again, feeling sick. His eyes opened to Philips face in his, everything normal again. 

That night he went home high and paranoid.  
That night he became Spider-Man.  
That night, his life changed forever.


	2. Chapter 2: Marvin stuck in whizzers ass

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I tend to sing these lyrics in ‘I’m breaking down’ rather than ‘Marvin grabbing whizzers ass’

Chapter 2: Marvin stuck in whizzers ass

That evening, like almost every evening, Trina Feldman was stood over a pot on the stove, her long brown hair in loose curls pooling on her shoulders, cooking dinner for her family. She was completely zoned out, mindlessly stirring the saucepan filled with peas. She snapped out of her daze as her son stepped out of the elevator on the floor. 

“Jason, honey, how was your day?” 

He replied with a grunt and instantly exited their open plan living, kitchen area, walking down the corridor separating the floor space and out of sight. A few seconds later she heard the slam of the door. Trina rolled her eyes at the angsty- stereotypical teenager she had raised and started to set up the kitchen table. Friday nights were the only time she could have a family meal. Her husband was a workaholic and her son would often be out with friends, but she always, no exceptions, would make sure that on Friday nights at ten thirty pm, they would both join her at the table. 

She got out three sets of cutlery, placing them on their large wooden dining room table, one at the head of the table, facing the elevator, for Marvin, one on the middle, right side for Jason, and seemingly miles away, her own set at the other end, facing her husband. From the fridge she got out an expensive bottle of Chardonnay for herself, placing it in a wine cooler on the table before going back to the fridge and getting a can of coke for Jason and a Beer for her Husband, setting them down on the table.

Then she sat, alone, at the table for a second, wondering why she had said yes all those years ago. Wondering if her isolated life was worth the view from her penthouse apartment. Wondering if she would need more than one bottle of wine for herself. As her thoughts grew darker, and she was already a glass of wine in and dinner had not yet been served, she called for her family. 

“THEA, would you mind telling Marvin and Jason that dinner’s ready?”

The robotic voice of the intercom system replied.

“I’m sorry ma’am, I’m updating- please try again in a few minutes.”

Trina sighed to herself as she got up and went to the stove, stirring the pot with the pasta, and checking on the lobster. Although it was not kosher, since acquiring wealth- Trina has taken a liking to the finer cuisine and ate lobster as one of her only exceptions. 

Then she walked down the hall to Jason’s bedroom, stopping when she got to the door. She knocked twice and poked her head around it. 

“Jason, it’s dinner in a few minutes.”

He stared at her, his slightly bloodshot eyes taking a second to register what she was saying before it hit him and he nodded at her, still high and growing more and more paranoid. 

“Aight” 

As she left to go back to the kitchen, she stopped out side her bedroom, debating whether or not to go in. On instinct she entered and rummaged through her drawers until she found the small orange prescription bottle of Xanax, taking one from her shaking hand and quickly tucking the bottle into her bra. Then she went to get Marvin. Her small heels clicked along the marble floors as she got into the elevator, going down two floors to her Husband’s personal office. She stepped out of the lift, heels still clicking and walked through the room filled with the newest technology and Marvin’s latest inventions. 

Marvin had one rule. Do not ever go in his office. Even Trina, in their almost eighteen years of marriage, had never seen the inside of it, not once. That was why it surprised her her when the door was slightly ajar…

And when she heard two voices coming from inside.

She slightly pushed open the door, curiosity taking over her. The door swung open and her heart fell and shattered as she gasped at the scene in front of her. 

At Trina’s gasp, a startled Marvin and Whizzer looked up at her like scared rabbits. From the door, Trina could see whizzer, bent over the large desk, Marvin holding his waist, balls deep in his ass. He instantly froze as he saw the cold look of disgust on Trina’s face.

“Trina, baby-“ 

Although Marvin had stopped his thrusts, Whizzer had continued to grind on him and with a moan, came on the carpeted floor, not exactly helping Marvin’s case. 

Trina took a deep breath- shaking with rage. Her voice was quiet, a low whisper.

“I’m going upstairs. In five minutes, you’re going to be at our dinner table, asking your son how his day was.” 

She turned to leave, a single tear trickling down her face. She quickly wiped it away and turned back to the men, scrambling for their clothes.

“Marvin, don’t you dare tell Jason, the press cannot best about this. And Whizzer-“ she kicked away the shirt that was lying by her feet “- next time at your home, never again in mine.” 

She left, walking hastily through the large white room with the ceiling high windows and rushed to the lift. Once she got back to their apartment she downed another glass of wine as she took the pill bottle out of her bra and popped another pill into her mouth. The alcohol and the Xanax mixed together to make her feel slightly dizzy and tired, so tired. 

Trina looked across her table at marvin’s empty seat, thinking of all the times Whizzer had dined with them, how he had befriended her son, how he had befriended her yet was screwing her husband behind her back. 

“Mum, what’s for dinner?” 

It was Jason who broke her from her trace again and she got up, checking on how the dinner was. Overcooked. Trina sighed and served it into three bowl and placed them down. 

“Lobster linguine.” She said  
“Mum, what did I say about you having lobster for a normal meal. It’s not right us having millions of dollars yet the guy on our stoop literally has nothing!” 

Trina sighed “Jason, sweetie, I can’t deal with this, not today. Please.”

He huffed in reply and sat down, Trina following suite, head in her hands trying to calm the deep ache in her head. They waited in silence for a minute before Marvin joined them quickly sitting at his end. 

They blessed their food and ate in silence, Trina avoiding Marvin’s eye contact at all costs, and the silence only being broken by Jason trying to lightened the mood. After they ate, she did not bother cleaning up, instead she walked straight to her bedroom. Just as Trina reached the door, Marvin stopped her, grabbing her wrist in his hands, kissing her palm. 

“Baby, I love you.”

She winced and pulled her hand away, slamming the door in his face and laying in her bed, falling instantly in a deep sleep from the Xanax and the wine. Marvin stood by the door, sighing before entering his own bedroom, taking his sleeping pills and falling asleep, his past abruptly waking him up only a few hours later as he got up and went back to work.


	3. Turns out all press is bad press

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woop de doop, another chapter doneeeee

Jason found irony amusing most of the time. Like the way most of the government hate immigrants yet they are the ones who work the jobs the government will not do yet still need them to survive. Or the way the government then started to congratulate them as soon as the panic of a certain virus begins to threaten them and they are out of harms way.

But what Jason found extremely not amusing was the fact that he was bitten by a radioactive spider and turned into a superhuman with spider like abilities even though he would jump off of a building to avoid one. (too soon?) The night of his darkest fear was also the worst night of his life. He had woken up in the middle of the night to find himself somehow hanging from the high ceilings in his bedroom and upon realising what was happening, fell to the floor, hurting his shoulder blade for almost a week. 

He found himself in these sticky situations for a couple of months, sometimes actual finding himself stuck to things. He was confused constantly, not knowing how or why he suddenly had the abilities to stick to things, or his extra strength, making gym class easy for a change. So he decided to put his new found skills to good use. Almost every night he would sneak out, slipping on a pair of black sweatpants, a red hoodie he had owned forever, a balaclava, that later changed to a ski mask, and his web shooters, sometimes adding socks if he got cold. He found that he could not stick to things if he was wearing shoes the hard way. Although New York City was a crime hub, like all major cities, all Jason would end up dealing with would be petty thieves, cat burglars or sometimes poorly executed bank heists, that seemed to be very poorly planned. So instead, he would often help old ladies cross the road, help lost kids find their parents, which sometimes did more harm than good, or just hang out with the other superhero of the city- iron Man.

Spider-Man and Iron Man would end up hanging out a lot, sitting on tall skyscrapers, eating churros or smoking weed. They had not told each other their real identities, they did not want anyone close to them getting In danger, but they both felt a sense of closeness and familiarity to each other that felt rare and foreign to both of them. They would often discuss problems at home for the other to help them with and to seventeen year old Jason- Iron Man became the Father figure he was missing from his own emotionally detached father. 

It had been three months since Jason had become Spider-Man and he was used to the routine, going on late night or early morning patrol, going home, waking up late for school, his mum yelling - it was normal now, and he liked it. It was ten at night of his patrol when he checked his watch and realised that if he did not make it home by ten thirty, his mum would have his guts for garters. It was a Friday. Friday dinners were important to to his mum. So he leapt off of the reaching sky scraper he was sat on, and fell, summersaulting through the air until he was so close to the ground before shooting his web to the side, using it as a grappling hook to swing from building to building.

Sometimes his mind would wander into dark places, debating whether or not he should just let himself fall, not catching himself on anything. 

He managed to get home in fifteen minutes, climbing up the skyscraper he lived in with his sticky grip and slid through the small opening in his window, careful not to be seen by the rest of the household. He got changed out of his Spider-Man gear and quickly threw on the first things he could find off of his messy floor. After smelling several rather odorous t shirts, he settled for one smelling more of weed than of jizz, before heading to the dining room. 

As soon as he entered he could feel the intensity of the couple sitting at either ends of the table, he felt the awkwardness as though he was interrupting. Jason stared from Marvin to Trina, noticing the cold, unforgiving look in his Fathers eyes and the hurt, angry look in his Mothers. 

“Um did I interrupt something?” He asked, his brow furrowing as he saw how neither of his parents would break eye contact. Upon noticing Jason’s presence, Trina jumped up, leading him to a seat at the table. She took his hands in her and sat next to him, tears welling up in her eyes.

“Jason, Honey, I’m not sure how to tell you this-“ she shot a pleading look at Marvin for help, but he looked away”- I suppose I should just say it. Your father is divorcing me!”

Jason’s jaw dropped at her words, looking from a Trina to Marvin, his brain trying to compute why. He pulled away from Trina, standing above her and in an accusatory tone yelled.

“What the Fuck did you do?”   
“Darling I didn’t do- 

He interrupted her”- no!-“ he looked down at her in fury, “- you must have done something, he wouldn’t divorce you for no fucking reason!”

Trina stood up, matching his height and his volume. 

“You don’t think I don’t know that! I’ve cooked him every single meal since we got married- beforehand he was living off of takeouts, I cleaned for him, quit my goddamn job for him. I put up with no sex and sleeping in separate bedrooms for years.” She pointed at Marvin, “ so ask the Bastard yourself why he’s doing it!”

Jason turned to him, expecting an answer.

“You know, your mother and I were drifting apart…” trina coughed purposefully to catch Marvin’s attention before putting her hand up to mime someone giving a blow job. 

“ aight, I cheated on her.”

Jason breathed heavily and suddenly he was on top if his father, screaming and and punching at him, not caring where he hit, Trina had to physically drag him off.

“Why did you cheat on her you Bastard? Why did you hurt my mum-“ he was crying now, blubbering tears streaming down his face as Trina held him back “- why are you getting a divorce straight away? You can work this out!”

Trina took Jason’s face in her hands- wiping away his tears and snot as she stroked his face, trying to calm him down. 

“Sweetheart, I’ve known for three months, we’ve been trying, we really have but your father is… your father is…” she could not finish the sentence before a sour look crossed her face.

“I’m gay.”

Jason’s jaw dropped and his eyes widened, his voice was low and whispered like the wind.

“What?”

Marvin stood up as Jason fell into a chair, he began to hyperventilate, breathing heavily but not actually breathing. Trina grabbed his hands, stroking his knuckles to try and calm him and Marvin knelt down next to him.

“Look Jason. I’ve known since I was in the military- your mum-“ he looked up to Trina “- your mum is perfect, but she was who I aspired to want.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

Trina pulled him into a hug, her own tears falling down her face silently.

“Honey, three months ago I walked in on your dad fuck… screwing another man. It was my fault he didn’t tell you, I needed us to a family so I told him not to tell you.”

“How could you?” Jason wept.

“We couldn’t let the press find out, but tomorrow, I’ve got a conference, I’m setting the record straight.” Marvin put his hand on Jason’s knee, he quickly shoved it off.

Jason did not sleep that night, he got out of his bed at five and just wandered around the apartment in his boxers trying to remember the times his family was a family. Nothing came to him. He sat In front of the chess board as he touched the cold hard pawn, remembered playing chess with his dad when he was six. His cold competitive father not even letting him win back then.

“Jason-“ he turned to see Marvin, instantly looking back to the chess board “- look, I know this isn’t easy.” Jason ignored him. “But your mother and I talked last night and I’ve bought her a house in the city and we think I would be a good idea for you and her to stay there together, at least until we’ve decided on custody.”

Jason continued to ignore him but felt the hole in his chest deepen and the pain intensify. Instead of trying to talk to his dad he stormed to his bedroom and screamed into his pillow for hours until his throat was hoarse, and his voice cracked whenever he tried to speak. 

Marvin, on the other hand, buried himself in work until his assistant called for him at eight- telling him it was time for his press conference. Although he had a press secretary, Marvin liked to deal with the press himself and as the richest man in America- no one argued with him. So, ten minutes late, he entered the room of dazzling lights from cameras and tens of reporters shoving to get as close to the front as possible. 

“Hello all, you must be wondering why I made you wake up at seven O’clock on a Saturday-“ a collective laugh rippled through the group of reporters “- but sadly I am announcing the split from my wife Trina Feldman. I am taking questions at this time.”

“Mr Feldman” the chorus of reporters shouted 

“Yes, you?” He pointed into the crowd.  
“Whose decision was the divorce?”  
“Regretfully mine.” He pointed star another reporter  
“What is the reason?”  
“I will not be answering due to personal, private issues…”

“Was it due to the rumours that you are gay?”

The room went silent and suddenly Marvin felt everybody’s stares on him.

“Mr Feldman, are you gay?”  
“Are you ashamed of your sexuality mr Feldman?”  
“Did you cheat on your wife with a man?”

The rabble turned into a cacophony of questions, all of which being Marvin’s worst nightmare. As the noise swelled he became overwhelmed, no longer seeing reporters but animals, piling over each other to get the latest scoop, the sweat collecting on his brow.

“What about the rumours of you having a son? Where is he going on the divorce?”

Marvin cut through the yelling, “yes I have a seventeen year old son.” The room quietened for a second as a quiet murmur echoed through the crowd. “ I have managed to keep him out of the press and a secret for almost eighteen years so please, do not start looking for him now- you will not find him.” 

He left the room, ignoring the reporters On the way out, leaving him shaking and exhausted. He had traded one of his biggest secrets for another. 

So he went to bed, waking up at two thirty four am. Two am is for the storytellers who’s minds are filled with words for someone who is not there. It is for the alcoholics or the drug addicts who drink themselves to sleep to forget someone they loved. Two am is not for the people who fall asleep with someone in their arms, two am is for the lonely. 

The people who are in love with the wrong people but are not loved in return. 

So Marvin walked barefoot across the freezing marble floors just to feel somethings. Marvin took the elevator down to his office just to have some purpose. So Marvin pressed the code in to the keypad for his secret conjoining room. So he stood in front of the large freestanding metal suit that was his other persona.

So Marvin became iron Man to escape his reality that he hated so much. 

It was his own version of self harm.


	4. Chapter 4: family ties in more ways than one

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just finished black Monday. The best tv show I’ve watched I LOVE IT. Andrew rannells is so good, and the cast are so funny. I am praying for a season 3!!

“So you’re telling me she’s already got a new boyfriend?” Philip was standing with Jason as he shoved new books into his red locker. 

“Ugh please do not call him that. We’re having a ‘family dinner’ tonight.” Jason cringed as he said it, locking the door closed and walking down the hall to his AP art class, Philip following.

“You mean you, your Mum and her new boy toy?” Philip asked, wiggling his eyebrows at the new name.

“That’s fucking worse-“ Jason Laughed”- no I mean my mum, Dad, both their boyfriends and me. They’re all gonna get in a fucking dick measuring contest. My mum included.”

“And this is the same Boyfriend your Dad cheated with?”   
“Yes, I haven’t met him yet. Anyway, afterwards I have to spend the weekend at my Sociopathic Dad’s house, go me.”  
“That sucks man, literally.” Philip laughed at his bad puns and Jason playfully pushed him to the side as They reached Jason’s art class.

“Tell the idiots I ain’t coming out tonight-“  
“You ain’t ever coming out” Philip interrupted, putting his hand up for a high five 

“Oh fuck you, I’ll see you soon.”  
“Aight.” Philip saluted 

Jason smiled as he watched Philip walking away, it was nice being able to tell someone how messed up his life was. The bell rang and he quickly entered the classroom, sitting at the edge of the room, a brand new sketchbook laid out in front of him. The teacher was the same one he had last year, and she had a soft spot for him, so for most of the class, he just did his own thing, keeping to himself until he overheard one of his classmates discussion.

“I actually have money on Marvin Feldman being gay!” One of them announced mid conversation.

“No way man, he seems like a dick, but in a straight way.” Another retorted.

“Holy crap, if he’s gay, his company will go down the drain!”

Jason sighed to himself as he listened. He hated the fact that he had so much money and did not want to be treated differently because of it. His Dad did not want him in the spotlight anyway- so he was basically a normal child with his Mothers maiden name at the state school he practically begged his parents to let him go to. Yes he drove a nice car, but that was it, for his birthdays he would ask for nothing except for a more than generous donation to a charity of his choice. 

What he did not understand was that the whole summer had been and gone yet the whole world was still obsessed with his family when even he was over it. So as the boys continued to talk about how ‘Marvin Feldman cheated on his wife with a man’ which was one hundred percent true, or how ‘Trina Feldman was going to have a public breakdown any day now’ or anything to do with ‘the mystery son’ he got progressively more and more irritated until he broke.

“Can you just shut the fuck up for a minute!” He blurted out.

“Or what -“ the boy got up, and walked up to Jason “- you skinny piece of shit?”

Jason took a deep breath, trying to rise above it, but very soon after, the boy was standing over him, chest almost touching his own. 

“Why do you care about the Feldman’s?” The boy asked

“I don’t, just can’t concentrate on my work with you talking so fucking loudly!” 

In a blur the boy swung his fist out at Jason, but his spider like reflexes kicked in, causing him to duck out of the way just in time for the teacher to enter.

She pointed at the boy, a grimace on her face “You-out!” Then she turned to Jason “Jason. Come here.”

Sheepishly Jason sauntered to the front of the class. The teacher lowered her voice as she spoke.

“Hey kid, what’s wrong. This isn’t last years Jason- you know you can always talk to me, right?”

Jason sighed, ”sorry Mrs A, just stuff going on at home.”

“Well you’re gonna have to buck up. We haven’t even been back a week and you’ve already got in a fight…”  
“I wouldn’t exactly call it a fight-“   
A stern look crossed over her face “just talk to me instead of taking it out on others. Alright?”  
“Aight.”

Suddenly the final bell rang and the students all rushed through the the halls ready to escape ‘hell’ as they called it. But Jason hung back in the art classroom, getting out long rolls of paper and spread them out so they covered the large grey tables. He went to the large cupboards at the back of the room and picked out five pots of coloured marker, pens and pencils, spreading them around the room. Then he sat on the desk at the front, trying to stalk his mum’s boyfriend on social media. Surely there could not be many guys out there called ‘Mendel’.

Before too long he heard the tiny knock on the door. 

“Hi daisy! Come on in.”

The little girl shyly entered the room followed by another ten or so children. They all sat down, finding spaces next to their friends and began to chatter excitedly amongst themselves.

“Okay-“ Jason announced to the group “- hi guys, how were your summers?”

He was met with a chorus of ‘good’ and walked around the room, handing out pencils as he talked.

“Great! So- as today is out first lesson- I think we should do self portraits. But I think we should make them as how we interpret ourselves! Now ‘interpret’ is a very used word in the art industry, does anyone know what it means?”

Half the class shot their hands up, wiggling their fingers at their urge to answer. Jason pointed to a quiet student at the back who was sitting alone. 

“It means how you see yourself.” He answered in an almost unheard volume

“Perfect! So you can draw yourself as your favourite Disney character, or green or however you want!”

Instantly the children scrambled- reaching for different colours and paper, getting to work. It reminded Jason why he fought his parents for the job- honestly he was so grateful to teach young children art. Since the government were constantly defunding the arts, he felt it was important for him to teach them everything he knew- so he volunteered twice a week, Wednesdays and Fridays, teaching the children things the government failed to do themselves. The children in his lessons were so creative and he felt so proud of them, he wanted to let them know that it was okay for them to release their creativity in whatever form they wanted.

“Hi Toby, hi Jake! How are you drawing yourselves?” He asked the pair at the centre table.  
“I’m drawing myself as my favourite Disney princess, Eliza!” Toby replied, around him the class began to laugh.

“A boy can’t be a Princess!” One of the kids pointed out, laughing.

“I thought I taught you guys that there are no rule in art!” He turned to the boy who looked like he was on the verge of tears. “Why Eliza?”

“Eliza is strong and confident. She’s loyal to the people she loves, but she’s not afraid to be angry at people who do something wrong.” His face lit up “ and she looks like me!” 

Jason was slightly taken aback by the insightful response of the not even ten year old child and continued helping the kids until their parents showed up to the door. 

“Remember not to be late next week!”

He quickly cleaned up the room, trying to get out of the classroom as fast as possible. Although it was only four thirty, Jason knew how bad the traffic was in the city, so after he was done- he legged it to the near empty car park, taking the roof of his convertible down due to the warm September temperature being in the mid twenties (degrees Celsius).

For a minute he just sat in his car, wondering if he was ready to meet either of his parents boyfriends. He shook the feeling off, turning on the radio and reversing out of his car spot and drove. Through all the chaos and noise of the traffic jam Jason got stuck in, he could still hear the doubts whispering in his head. A long hour later he pulled up in his mother’s drive, the sound of pressurised gravel cracking under his tires. 

He did not like her new house- it just did not feel like a home. It was an empty shell, much like her, and it was clean, so clean it almost felt hospital like. It lacked personal possessions and made Jason feel uncomfortable. 

He got out of his car, reaching for his keys from his jeans pocket and locked it, before going to the front door and unlocking it, smelling the strong scent of chilli con carne as he opened it. 

“Hey Mom!” He yelled as he put his keys down, taking off his light jacket and hanging it over the bannister. He ran upstairs to his bedroom and began packing a bag for the weekend- after dinner he wanted to get out of there as fast as possible, maybe stop the awkwardness a bit.

Then he heard the doorbell, his jaw automatically clenched and he focused on his breathing.

“In for four, out for seven” he could remember his mum telling his when he was thirteen and had his first big art competition.

He rounded the corner of the landing and saw the face of the man who was meant to be his fathers boyfriend, and he laughed to himself. 

Nodus Tollens. 

It is the realisation that the plot of your life just does not make sense anymore.

And that was exactly how Jason felt as he mum called him down the stairs to welcome their guest and was met by the beautifully carved face of Whizzer Brown. 

A man who he knew very well.

“Whizzer?”  
“Hi Jason.”

The two adults in the room could see Jason’s brain working as he figured out what was going on. Slowly he turned from Trina to Whizzer and spoke.

“Hold up, you’re telling me… that you’re the guy… fucking my Dad?”

Trina smacked the back of his head, warning him of his choice of language by shooting him a murderous glare

“I… um… I guess so?” Whizzer replied, avoiding Trina’s fiery look of hatred and scratching the back of his neck awkwardly. The air tensed and the only sounds that could be heard were their breathing.

And then Jason broke into fits of laughter, tears rolling down his face, clutching his stomach as he giggled.

“Mum how did Dad get Whizzer, he’s hot… no he’s gorgeous!”

Whizzer blushed slightly at the compliment.

A small, tight smile stretched over Trina’s face. “That was my thought when I walked in on them!” She looked at whizzer, as spitefully as possible as she tried to embarrass him. “My first thought was, holy shit my husband’s gay, my second was, he’s a lucky man if you know what I mean.”

Whizzers blush turned into more of a red flush of embarrassment. Jason put his hands out a couple inches apart and started moving them outwards. 

“Stop me when it’s right.”

But soon after he said it, the doorbell rang again. Trina opened the door and her face instantly lit up when she saw Mendel, and he stepped onto the hearth. He kissed Trina on the lips, longer than seemed necessary and Jason smiled himself throwing up to Whizzer. Mendel handed Trina a bouquet of flowers and she gasped at how lovely they were. Whizzer stuck his hand out towards him. 

“Hi, whizzer Brown, Marvin’s boyfriend.”

Mendel squinted his eyes slightly at him before shaking his hand, “Mendel-“ he turned to Jason “- and you must be Jason.”

Trina nudged Jason forward slightly with her hips, her way of saying ‘I will kill you if you mess this up because this is the happiest I’ve been since my wedding day.’

“Yes sir, it’s nice to meet you.” His voice was ever so slightly sarcastic, but Mendel did not seem to notice.  
“Call me Mendel.” He smiled warmly but without his eyes.

They all followed Trina into the kitchen diner, Whizzer curiously looking into every corner of its large floor plan, the adults each having a a glass of wine as they sat at the spotless, smudge free glass table in silence, Whizzer spinning his finger around the rim of the glass as it made small hums. 

“So Mendel-“ Jason was the one to break the ice “- what do you do for a living?”

“I’m a psychiatrist, met your Mom during a session.”

Whizzer and Jason made eye contact as Trina took Mendel’s hand in her own and Jason coughed.   
“Unprofessional” He muttered into the cough, just loud enough for only Whizzer to hear.

Whizzer snorted under his breath.  
“What do you do Whizzer?” Mendel asked 

“Oh, I’m the head architect and product design manager at Feldman industries.”

Trina interjected into Mendel’s ear,” he slept his way to the top.”

“Mom” Jason said, a slightly warning tone in his voice and again they sat in silence. “So whizzer… seven?”  
“I’m not gonna tell my … my boyfriends son.”  
“Oh, so more like eight or nine.”

“Jason” Trina snapped. He narrowed his eyes at her and she sighed,” I’ll tell you if you behave.” 

Marvin never arrived. Jason was not mad at first, he was not even upset. He was done. He felt stupid and done. Sometimes we expect more from other because we would be willing to do so much more for them. So he got his bag form his bedroom and left it in his car, kissing his mother on the cheek- reminding her he would see her on Monday. He was calm on his drive to Feldman industries, the dark sky and glass of wine he had downed when his Mum was not looking making him hardly able to keep his eyes open. He pulled into the large underground parking lot and slowly dragged himself to the large elevator, he stood in front of the retinal scanner, the blue light it emitted hurting his exhausted eyes and pressed the button to the penthouse. The doors opened and Jason instantly felt the swell of anger bubble up inside him as he saw him.

His Dad sitting at the dining room table, glasses on and many pieces of paper converted in intricate Maths problems in front of him. 

“What are you doing?”  
“Working out how to create biodegradable nuclear weapons.”  
“What ere you meant to be doing?”  
“Working out how to make biodegradable coffee cups.”

Jason breathed out heavily and his voice began to shake.

“You fucking piece of shit!” He yelled  
“Excuse me?”  
“We were meant to have our family dinner- I was trying to make us a fucking family again! But all you do is work and you don’t even look after your own son.”   
“Do not use that tone when you speak to your Father-“   
“You are not my fucking father-“ Jason butted in “- I don’t even live with you for half of the week!”

Jason stormed out and cried himself to sleep in his bed, his clothes still in. He hated his family- not in a teenage way- in a way that they did not love him enough to not do things to screw over the other one. 

He hated them for it.


	5. Chapter 5: rewind

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a fun chapter, if you get confused this is chapter 4 but from Marvin’s Perspective.

Marvin had been having one of the best days he had, had in a while. For once he had actually had a good nights sleep, his sleeping meds knocking him out instantly and he was not woken by the sound of explosions as he usually was. He had a lazy morning, attempting to cook eggs and failing miserably. So when Whizzer entered the apartment to get Marvin to sign off on some of his latest technology designs for more streamlined nuclear weapons, and saw Marvin - in his boxers- standing over a pan, a ‘burnt thing’ emitting smoke, he instantly took over. 

From his seat at the dining table Marvin had a perfect view of Whizzer’s ass, he could see every curve and muscle, every dimple through Whizzer’s tight suit trousers, and he found it irresistible. Quietly he got up and walked over to Whizzer, his bare feet making the tiniest padding noises on the cold floor. He snaked his arms around Whizzers abdomen and tightly gripped his hips- pulling them backwards to meet his crotch, and he started to grind slowly on hum. Whizzers smile was beautiful as he lolled his head back to rest on Marvin’s shoulder and Marvin nipped at his ear with his teeth.

“While I’ve got you alone Marv-“ whizzer said, spinning around and leaning his arms over Marvin’s shoulders, spatula still in his hand”- I just wanted to remind you of dinner tonight.”

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world!” Marvin replied, hands moving down to Whizzers Ass “I’m excited to rub your perfectness in Trina’s face.”

Whizzer laughed as he bent down to kiss Marvin, Marvin’s hand going to unclasp Whizzers belt, and slid his hand down, palming whizzer through his boxers. Whizzer, still holding the kiss, pulled Marvin’s boxers down and wrapped a hand around his cock, jerking him off at a painfully slow speed.

“Mr Feldman, cleaners are here.” The robotic intercom system spewed out through the apartment.

Whizzer broke the kiss,” come back later, please” he yelled out, his voice slightly cracking and raspy in excitement before Marvin yanked his hair, causing him to moan , quietly laughing into the kiss. Unfortunately the cleaner had her headphones on and as the elevator doors dinged open, both their heads whipped around to see her, beginning to vacuum. So whizzer pushed Marvin swiftly to the floor, hearing him land loudly and winced as he tried to act casual, placing his hands on his hips.

“Fuck.” Marvin groaned as he landed hard on his tail bone.

The cleaner jumped with a start as she looked up to see whizzer, taking her headphones out.

“Where’s Mr Feldman?”  
“He’s getting dressed, would you mind coming back in ten, he said he needed to go over some paperwork.”  
“Of course.”

She left the room and Whizzer helped Marvin up- a sheepish look on his face.   
“So… ten minutes huh?” Marvin smirked, quickly kissing whizzer before pushing him backwards into the sofa.

Despite almost being caught having sex twice, the rest of the day went without a hitch and at around five pm, Marvin sent all of his workers home - telling them all to have a nice evening which was extremely uncharacteristic of him. After they left, he found Whizzer sitting in his office. 

“Hey Baby, what are you doing?” He asked, going to his desk and beginning to write out some formulas for a new type of biodegradable plastic layering for coffee cups.

“I’m nervous about tonight.” Whizzer replied, getting up from the large corner chair and climbing onto the desk sitting cross legged as he watched Marvin work. “What if Jason hates me now because I broke up your family, I’ve broken up families before and believe me, it’s not fun. The guilt just eats away and you and…” 

“Baby, baby calm down. This is on me. remember, he really liked it when you used to come to dinner!”

“Yeah, but that was before he found out we were fucking.”

Marvin took Whizzers hands in is own and stroked his face, Whizzer nuzzling into his warmth. 

“Look, it’s all gonna be alright.”

They sat in silence together for about an hour, but it was a comfortable silence, one of familiarity and relaxation. Marvin continued to work on his formulas filling up pages and pages with different numbers and symbols and whizzer drew him, getting him immersed by the tiny details in Marvin’s face. The crinkle of his forehead as he worked, the tiny baby hair ringlets on the back of his neck, the sharp contrasting angles of his lips and Cupid’s bow with the gentle curves of his jawline. Whizzer perfectly matched them on the paper, each line he drew purposeful and beautiful- smiling as he worked.

“Marv, I think I’m going to head home, get changed before I go to Trina’s.”

He got up from the table and stretched upwards, his shirt clinging to his toned body, Marvin admiring it from the corner of his eyes.

“Alright, i’ll see you later, hey! Gimme a kiss!”

A warm smile spread over Whizzers lips, his eyes crinkling slightly, as he gave Marvin a quick peck on the lips. He hated to admit it, but he loved the feeling of domestic life.

“Bye” he said, leaving the room with a slight bounce in his step.  
“Wear something sexy baby.” Marvin yelled out of him.

Marvin lazed about his office for a few minutes but realised quickly, without Whizzer he was very bored. He glanced up at the clock on the wall and decided he would have enough time to go out before dinner, so he hit the keypad buttons to the secret room, feeling the intense anticipation of freedom feeling so near. 

“THEA, how are we doing with the new suit upgrade?” He asked the empty room.

“Good Marvin-“ he strangely loved how the intercoms voice would wax and wane with odd cadences “- I did find one glitch, but it should be okay to use.”

He nodded to himself and pressed the large button on the suits stand causing the front to open like a set of double doors. He stepped into the suit backwards, the front closing In front of him and the blue light from the screen illuminated the world around him. 

“THEA, has Spider-Man been spotted tonight” he asked seemingly to himself.

After a second of computing- searching through all social media posts and press from the day. She replied with a ‘no’ causing Marvin to sigh. He flew out of the large, open windows he designed especially for the purpose and stopped, hovering in mid air over the city.

“Activate ultra vision.” He said, the suit suddenly zooming in on to over ten times the normal magnification- letting him see almost every street from his spot abound the city. 

The night seemed quiet, but Marvin felt something off about it, maybe the way it was slightly too quiet. That was one of the things he learnt in the army- if it was quiet, someone was dead, he could not bear it, he just never shook off the feeling when he became a civilian. 

It was the same with the dark- he could not stand it. He and Trina, in their seventeen years of marriage almost never slept in the same bed because of it, he always slept with a light on and she could not deal with it. So they each had their own rooms. The apartment was different enough.

He was flung from his daze by the loud boom of explosives and suddenly he was back in ranger mode, surveying the cityscape as though it was the dusty planes of Afghanistan. He locked in on the noise and could see what it was caused by, a large branch of Amerisavings and loan was in fire, glass windows shattered and civilians on the street, hunkering down. He quickly sped into action, plummeting down to the street below.

“THEA, scan for injuries.”

He continued downwards- hovering slightly above the ground and doing a three sixty spin- beams pointing from the eyes of the suit.

“No one in critical condition, move forward.”

Marvin nodded, entering the bank soundlessly, trying to get an edge on the robbers, he kept exploring the bank in hopes of finding them, but the maze like layout made it impossible to predict what was around each corner. Suddenly he heard it, the noise that made him want to yell out.

“Hello, help me, anyone!”

It was Jason’s voice- his son was trapped. He flew through the corridors- following his voice- trying to stay composed even though his heart was shattering from the thought of losing him. He rounded the final corridor, but stopped dead in his tracked. 

Two men- batman masks on, large illegal weapons in hand.

“Where is he, where is the boy?” Iron man yelled.

A third man exited from the shadows of the bank vault, his own mask- the joker, the crimson smirk, gruesome in the poorly lit hall.

“Ah so it sounded like a boy to you. Do you have a son, iron Man?” His voice was low and filled in gravitas.

Upon being met with silence he decided to ask another question.

“Tell me iron man-“ he placed a small black box to the mouth hole of the mask “- have you met batman?”

Marvin took a step back, blinking in confusion as the voice of his son filled the room. 

“What the f…”  
“Kill him.”

They lunged forward at him, but iron man was faster, flying above them to their leader, suddenly he froze midair as a blue beam surrounded him.

“THEA, switch on extra strength and weight.” Marvin yelled, he fought against the beam as he hung in the air. Out of his pocket- the joker pulled a gun and Marvin almost scoffed, but before he had the chance to, he fell to the ground, the extra weight from the suit causing the ‘freeze ray’ like object to fail. He stood in a triangle stance, holding lit his palms - aiming the rays from the gauntlets out towards his attackers, missing narrowly. But they still kept running towards him- shooting their own weapons.

He flew over their heads, the office angles making it hard for them to get a shot in until suddenly he was hit on the soul of his left boot, the whole panel collapsing and falling to the floor.

“What the Fuck THEA-“ he yelled as he spiralled out of control from the lack of one of his motors “- I thought you said a small glitch!”

In the small window that Marvin lost concentration. One of the attackers shot at him and suddenly a wave of pain shot through his body, he tried to ignore it- flying haphazardly through the corridors, everyone and again firing shots backwards as he led them to the roof. He started to lose consciousness as his foot began to throb, but the bullets whizzing past him forced him to stay awake, and he quickly flew up the large stairs leading to the roof- breaking through the fire escape at the top. 

He waited by the door breathing heavily as the pain in his foot caught up with him. He heard the sirens in the distance as he touched down on the ground and instantly his body crumbled beneath him.

He awake to hear police running up the stairs- telling commands to spread out and search for civilians. He rolled his eyes at their incompetence as he struggled to his feet, Keelung over and throwing up after putting pressure on his foot. Then he took off into the air.

-

“Charlotte love, there’s someone here dressed up as iron Man who needs to see you!” Cordelia yelled through their brownstone. 

“What the...” Charlotte rounded the corner to see the door,” Marvin? What are you doing here!”

Marvin looked at the familiar face of his best friend and managed a smile on his bloodless face.

“Hey Charlotte-“ he pointed down to his foot “- I think I need some medical assistance.”

She quickly pulled him inside- taking the helmet from his hands and prepared the table, making him put his foot up as he sat down. She worked quickly and skilfully while Cordelia distracted him. 

“So Marvin, do you have a surname?” She winced as he clenched her hand tight while Charlotte antiseptic the bullet wound.

“Feldman.” He spat through gritted teeth.  
“Wait, of Feldman industries! How do you know my wife?”

A brief look of confusion crossed his face as he faced Charlotte. “You got married, and you didn’t invite me!”  
He exclaimed.

“Well I didn’t exactly want press at my wedding.” Charlotte replied quickly threading a needle.” This is going to hurt- I don’t exactly keep anaesthetics in my bathroom cabinet.”  
“Don’t worry, I’ve been shot before.”

Marvin breathed deeply as she began to sew up his foot, the sweat glistened on his brow. He pressed a button on his suit and the front opened and he slowly undid his shirt- hands shaking.

“You see this-“ he said, pointing at the large metal box protruding from his chest “- your doctor and I fought in Afghanistan together. One day we were trying to save civilians from a Taliban camp, we walked straight into a minefield. Fragments of a bomb lodged millimetres away from my heart and the surgeon messed up the operation. Charlotte saved my life, fitted me with an interior pacer, power source thing, later I made a stronger one. I was dead for three minutes- she’s the reason I’m alive right now.”

“How did you know we lived here?” Cordelia asked, stroking Marvin’s knuckles to try and calm him. 

He lied through his teeth,” I’ve created an ‘all knowing’ web system helper. Anything that’s ever been on the internet, she can find. “ he winced and gritted his teeth as Charlotte touched a sensitive part of his foot.

“She?” Cordelia asked.

Marvin nodded- shivering slightly.” I call her THEA.” He paused as Charlotte began to bandage up his foot, “where do you work Cordelia?”

Cordelia smiled brightly- showing the small gap between her front two teeth, “I’m a shiksa caterer! I’m trying to expand my business, turns out there’s big business in Bar Mitzvah’s!”

Marvin nodded thinking back to his own sons Bar mitzvah.

“Alright! I’m all done-“ Charlotte stood up, admiring her work “- you should be glad I’m an Army Doctor, this was quick and easy.”

Marvin tried to stand up, but Charlotte stopped him.

“What do you think you’re doing?”  
“I need to go- what’s the time?” He replied, stressing out.

“You’ll split your stitches!” Charlotte was firm.  
“But my son’s… THEA, where’s Jason?”  
“Jason Feldman left Trina Feldman’s house two minutes ago.”

Marvin kept to his good foot, panicking.

“Fuck, he’s gonna be so mad at me- I need to get home!”

Charlotte sighed before fetching a pair of crutches, handing them to him.

“I’ll drive you.”

-

They satin silence for most of the drive back only breaking it for small talk, until Charlotte addressed the elephant in the room.

“So, you’re iron Man.”

Marvin nodded,” I got bored.”

“You know you don’t need to send me money anymore.” She said softly, “you also don’t need to pay rent on my apartment.”

He shrugged “I owe you.”

They were met with silence again as Marvin tapped on the leg of his suit, tiny clangs echoing through the car.

Charlotte sighed, “ I’ve been hearing a lot about you in the news. I’m sorry about your divorce.”

“Yeah well, it was my fault-“ Marvin said, fiddling with the large metal suit.

“You know you can talk to me about it.” Charlotte replied sweetly.

Marvin let out a brief laugh “you’d have to sign a non disclosure agreement-“ he looked to Charlotte, but the stern look on her face made him sigh,”- I cheated on her.”

“Marv-“

“With a man. I’m gay Charlotte, and I don’t know how to tell the world.” 

Again a silence took hold as Charlotte figured out how to respond.

“Have you been seeing your psychiatrist?” She finally asked.

“Don’t get me started on him-“ Marvin laughed “- he’s utterly crap but won’t prescribe me shit unless I actually see him.”

Charlotte slowed the car to a stop as she pulled up outside Feldman industries.

“My suggestion is to talk to him about it and follow your heart.”

Marvin tapped his pacer as he climbed out of the car carefully,” Charlotte you should know by now- I don’t have a heart.”

And he took off into the sky.

-

He sat down just as he heard the elevator doors ding- quickly looking down at his work on the dining room table.

“What are you doing?” Marvin winced at how cold Jason’s voice was.

He replied in a cool tone,” working out how to create biodegradable nuclear weapons.”

He could hear the anger rise in Jason’s voice as he asked his next question,”what were you meant to be doing ?”  
“Working out how to make biodegradable coffee cups.”

He tended as he knew Jason was going to burst.

“You fucking piece of shit!”

He had to keep his alibi,” excuse me?”

Jason was yelling, tears streaming down his face,” we were meant to have our family dinner- I was trying to make us a family again! But all you do is work-“ his voice was raspy “- you don’t even look after your son!”

Marvin hates himself for what he was about to say, “ do not use that tone when you speak to your father.” 

“You are not my fucking father- I don’t even live with you for half of the week.”

It hit Marvin right in the heart as Jason stormed out. He winced as the door slam, and put his head in his hands- wiping the tears away from underneath his glasses.

“Fuck me.” He said to himself, going back to work.


	6. Chapter 6: jason gets all political and Marvin can’t have sex

Whizzer had come over Saturday evening after work and found Marvin asleep at the dining room table. He giggled to himself at how squishy his face was against the wood and set about making a quick stir fry, trying to keep the noise down.

He pulled out some of the paperwork from underneath Marvin, trying to put it away before he would wake. If Marvin woke up to it, he would go back to work- Whizzer knew him well enough to know he had to hide it. He was trying to order it into a stack, when a memo caught his eye.

It was a small pink sticky note-Marvin’s favourite colour- with a scrawled note reading, ‘ask whizzer to design new iron Man suit.’ He made a mental note to ask about it later and went back to the stove. It only took ten or so minutes to cook, but Marvin was beginning to stir, mumbling things in his sleep. Whizzer opened several random drawers until he found the one with the bowls and served up three portions- putting Marvin’s and his own down on the table before walking down the hallway until he came to the only locked door, and knocked.

“Fuck off” he heard the raspy yet muffled voice of Jason yell out.  
“It’s me.” From inside Whizzer could hear the frantic sound of windows opening, and rustling.

Whizzer got down on his knees and got out a random hotel keycard he had from five or so years ago. He slid it through he crack in the door, delicately moving it up and down until he heard the tell tale click and opened the door. In front of him was Jason frozen in position, eyes wide with a blunt in one hand and a can of deodorant in the other.

“Next time kid, you’ve gotta have your windows open from the start, and block under the door with clothes- I could smell it in the hallway.”

Jason sighed as he sat on his bed, “what do you want Whizzer, did my Dad send you?”

Whizzer shook his head before wading through the shin high piles of clothes and sat down next to Jason, handing him the bowl. “I thought you might be hungry!” Jason started shovelling the stir fry into his mouth like a wild animal ,”woah, when was the last time you ate Jason?”

“At my Mom’s” he replied a piece of baby sweet corn hanging out of his mouth, “and now I’ve got the fuckin’ munchies.”

“Jason!” Whizzer scolded, a hint of sympathy in his voice,”that’s so bad for you, you need to eat more!”

“I do normally, it’s just- I got in a fight with Dad-“ he sighed Slowing down the pace he was eating at slightly “- he hasn’t moved since yesterday, and I didn’t want to see him, so I didn’t got to the kitchen, so I didn’t eat.” He shrugged.

Whizzer sighed at what Jason said.

“Pass me the blunt.” He said, looking at a shocked Jason,” what- I was a starving art student, my diet consisted of pot for my whole school career.” He sighed as he inhaled, the familiar taste bringing back memories that he would have rather forgotten about.

The pair sat in silence for a few minutes-the only noise coming from Jason’s mouth with his chewing.

“Have you thought about seeing a psychiatrist Jason-“ Whizzer finally asked,” you seem stressed, it may help.”

“What, see a stranger about my many issues, tell them my deepest secrets only for them to tell my mum?” He laughed,” uh no thanks!”

“You can always tell me- I’m going to try to avoid your mum at all costs.” Whizzer replied, trying to add some levity to the situation. “In all seriousness- they can’t tell your mum- oath of secrecy or shit.”

Jason smiled at him, “maybe one day I’ll take you up on that.” Whizzer put out his hand to accept Jason’s bowl and got up.” Whizzer, what do you see on my Dad other than the money? He’s cold, uncaring, bitchy as fuck and I’m pretty sure he’s autistic.” 

Whizzer sighed as he reached the door, tensing slightly and turning,” Jason, you may not understand this, but love is blind. Sometimes I ask myself why I… I…lo- I ask myself why as well- when you’re a kid you don’t feel the emotional depth an adult does, you see things plain and simple, the way they’re meant to be seen. But when you grow up, If you grow up, previous things from your childhood complicate things, leave you with too many tiny little emotions that are unnecessary.” He smiled, tired eyes crinkling,” I’ll see you later kid.”

He closed the door behind him, and upon realising he   
was still holding the joint, took a final puff and stuffed it into the nearest plant pot, walking into the kitchen to see Marvin eating just as fast as Jason. 

“Hey Baby.” Marvin said, almost inhaling his food.  
“Hey Marv.” Whizzer sighed sitting opposite him, where Trina used to sit. Taking her position in almost every way. “Have you apologised to Trina and Jason yet?”

Marvin stopped eating and looked up at him, a genuine look of surprise crossing his face, “what, why?”

Whizzer took a deep breath in, trying to control the annoyance of having to teach a fully grown man things kids are usually taught. “Because you blew off last nights dinner to work. You left me with your ex wife, who, by the way, has seen my dick, and anyone who knows both my life story and seen my dick must die-“ he joked ”- so consider her lucky, her boyfriend, who was physio analysing me the whole night, and your son!” 

Marvin bowed his head down slightly in shame, “are you angry at me?” He asked, slowly and quietly.

Whizzer sighed,” no Marv, I’m not angry at you, neither is Trina, she said she thought you wouldn’t show, but Jason still had hope, so he’s furious.”

“Yeah, he yelled at me last night.”

“He hadn’t eaten since last night either!” Whizzer pointed out.

Marvin scrunched his nose, one eyebrow raised,” when are they meant to eat?”

Whizzer shrugged,” I’m not a parent don’t ask me, but I think every five minutes.”

The remainder of their dinner they sat in silence, Whizzer only picking at his stir fry. Once Marvin had finished he got all three bowls and hand washed them, glancing at his watch as he did.

“Baby, come to bed with me.” He said as he dried his hands with the kitchen flannel.  
“Whizzer, I’m not in the mood.” His foot hurt so badly he knew he would pass out if he put even the slightest bit of pressure on it.

“Marv, I meant so we could actually sleep, you haven’t slept in a proper bed for twenty four hours, I think you may need to realign your back!” 

Marvin thought about it for a second.

“You go ahead, I’ll come in a second.”  
“Okay.”

Whizzer did not argue- instead he pressed a kiss on Marvin’s cheek and went down the hall. Once he was out of sight Marvin limped to his feet, trying to hobble one legged to their bedroom. He really slowly managed to get half way down the corridor, stopping at the bathroom. He stood over the sink, the urge to throw up unbearable as he clutched the basin tightly. After the wave of nausea passed, he opened a drawer under the marble counter top, taking out four bright orange bottles filled with pills. He took one of each and waited for the opioids to kick in so that he could at least pretend to walk normally. 

Ten minutes later he was asleep in bed, whizzer gripping onto his so tight that he was not even afraid of what his dreams would hold.

-

On Monday, Jason was grateful to be leaving the dirty bedroom he had spent all weekend in. He loaded his essentials into the trunk of his car at seven thirty am and left for school. Whizzer cooked him breakfast and gave him some cash for lunch, his tried Dad to hug him awkwardly at Whizzers request, but he just walked straight past him telling them he would see them on Saturday and left. 

He drove to Philips house, beeping his horn as he pulled up outside, he saw the curtains being flung open, and his best friend hurrying around his bedroom. He laughed to himself and not five minutes later, the front door banged open as Philip stood in the doorway- leg up in a karate kick, slice of toast in his mouth, backpack in one hand and his inhaler in the other. He quickly got into the passenger side of the car, breathing heavily. Jason took the toast out of pip’s mouth , taking a couple of bites as Pip took his inhaler before taking it back.

“I fucking hate Monday’s.” pip exclaimed as he caught his breath.

The drive to school was short but somehow, even though it was only their second week back, they had already had two detentions for being late, making it a third when they arrived ten minutes into their period one class.

Being late all of their Junior year had left them not really caring about rushing around if they were, instead they walked into their AP English Lit class together as cool as cucumbers. After being scolded by the teacher, Mariah, the class started their work on summarising ‘wise blood’ - a book they were meant to have read over the summer.

The keyword was ‘meant’- Jason did not even have a copy of the book so as the teacher went around asking questions about it, he prayed that he would be left out.

“Jason.” As soon as he heard his name he froze, terrified of telling Mariah that he had not read the book. “What is a theme in the book?”

He looked across the class to Pip, eyes wide.

“Wise bloods theme? Ummm…-“ he thought back to every book he had ever read, “- finding yourself?”

“What do you mean by that?” 

Pip put his hands up in a praying motion.

“The inevitability that you will believe in something?” Jason held his breath as he waited for her response.

“Good- would anyone like to expand I that?”

He tuned out, grateful to get out of the spot and began to doodle in his notebook-sketching out new ideas for his Spider-Man costume and wrote several new formulas for the spider like web fluid, he had to make more of it. At the moment he found that it became brittle after being exposed to oxygen for a couple of minutes- which was not good for tying up bad guys. He distracted himself throughout almost the entire lesson, but at ten minutes before the end Mariah gave them their assignment.

“Look, I know this is your first full week of school, but you are taking AP English- this Shits hard. You will be given a project to do in pairs-“ instantly the whole room did the thing where everyone looked at their best friend, internally marking their territory “- which I will choose-“ everyone groaned under their breaths, mumbling unpleasant profanities as she continued “- based on how you did last year. You will be paired up with people of a similar ability.”

Jason rolled his eyes and went back to sketching, expecting his name to be called out last.

“Jason with Zoe Feinstein.”

Jason’s ears pricked up when he heard her name, remembering her from middle school when he invited her to his Bar Mitzvah.

“Holdup teach, how did my boy Jason get paired with that fucking nerd?” One of his so called friends yelled out and Jason sighed at his stupidity. 

“Because Jack, he probably has the highest IQ in this room.” The teacher replied, continuing down the list.

“Wait, how he manage that? He always skips class.” Jack asked.

Jason turned in his chair to look at his ‘friend’ and in a joking tone replied,” yo jack are you sure you’re smart enough to bet here?” The class ‘oohed’ around him, stirring the pot, “it’s genetics you dick!”

Mariah gave the boys a warning look before reading the rest of the list.

“Aight kids, I want you to create whatever you want to summarise wise blood. Get creative and inventive, this is worth extra credit/“ the bell rang and the kids all got up, packing up their bags “- this is due in a couple weeks, so don’t fuckin’ procrastinate!” She yelled above the cacophony.

Jason decided he liked Mariah very much. She was a fierce Brownsville born and raised black woman, who would take shit from no one. She was stunning, usually wearing bright red pantsuits or freeze that clung to her figure and made it pop and Jason would have been lying if he said he had not been crushing on her since his freshman year. She was different from the other teachers, refusing to be called Mrs Reynolds, down for the banter, but knowing where to draw the line, so he decided he would actually try in class, knowing she would be a good ally to make.

As he left the class, he saw his partner Zoe at the lockers and sidled up to her, leaning against them.  
“‘Sup.”

“Uh, hi!” She sounded nervous so Jason quieted his voice slightly to try not to be intimidating.  
“So when do you want to work on our project?”  
“I don’t mind really, but I think maybe not at my house, my parents wouldn’t really let me have a boy over…”

Jason narrowed his eyes slightly as he read her body language, “ you meant they wouldn’t approve of me.” She swallowed, her large eyes looking away from his, “ it’s alright, if my Mama knew what I was doing she wouldn’t approve either.” He laughed “ she’d probably smack me then send me to rehab.”

“Are you free this weekend?” She asked, not reciprocating the joke.  
“Urm-“ he thought about it, that would mean he would be at his highly famous unknown to everyone Dads house “-can you do any other days?”

She shook her head,” we’re gonna need a whole day, plus my parents are really controlling during the week.”

“Fine,I’ll pick you up at nine on Saturday morning.”  
“I have a car.”  
“It’s kinda hard to get into my house-“ he lied “- plus I’ll be driving there anyway.” He took a pen out of his pocket, it was hot pink, his secret favourite colour, and wrote his number on her palm.”text me your address.”

Then he left, getting out his phone to text Philip.   
‘I’m skipping two and three.’  
‘Gotchu covered’

He shot back a thumbs up and slipped off campus, zipping his hoodie up and going to his car. He rummaged in the glove box, taking out his ski mask and his web shooters. He then dig around his trunk to get out his spray paints, chucking them into a backpack.

-

He swung from building to building, looking for the perfect target for his work, then he stopped outside trump tower. He hated the building- the modernism concrete style making him want to barf. Jason had done a lot of research with whizzer into the building, finding out it had fifty eight floors and thirty four lifts. The building was a cause for lots of controversy, considering Trumps alleged underpaying of contractors and the lawsuits he had filed because it was not tax- exempt.

“Fuck the rich.” He muttered to himself as he thought of the monster who was the first billionaire president of the United stated who refused to pay taxes and underpays normal people who actually work for what they have got. That is not even mentioning the amount of children he had sexually abused molested, who he just threw money at to solve his issues. It made Jason feel sick to his core, so he got out the large white spray paint can - still wearing the ski mask and ejected the long white spindles of web up onto The top of the building.

In large bubble letters he began to write quickly, not wanting to be caught by the cops, in the midday traffic he knew it would take them about fifteen minutes, be he also knew that they were all in Trumps pocket so would shoot him on sight. It only took him five minutes to write the five words, looking down to see bystanders stopping to watch, people getting out their phones to film him, making him glad he was wearing the mask and all black. 

Still he continued, hearing the sirens in the distance, he took broad, thick strokes with the spray paint - it was more about people seeing it than people liking it. Suddenly a gunshot ripped through the street and he pressed himself to the large building. He knew he had to finish quickly, so he let go of the web, free falling on his back until he got to the perfect angle where he could attach the web to the spire and bounced round the building, drawing the finishing touch before swinging in the opposite direction of school, the cops close behind him.

-

He got back to his car at the end of period three- not sure how exactly he lost them, Jason ditched the black hoodie in his trunk, opting instead for a pastel pink one, slipping back into school- heading to the cafeteria. He waited in line, although most of his friends tended to skip the queue and as he checked his phone, seeing several missed calls from his mom and a text from Whizzer on his dads behalf. He rolled his eyes and checked his Twitter feed, smirking as he saw his artwork all over his feed

“Oh my God! Have you seen Trump tower?” Pip yelled as his curly hair bounced with him, standing next to him in the queue

Jason nodded his head feigning a look of boredom on his face.

“I mean it’s utter genius, Donald Trump as Hitler and and the slogan ‘he made America hate again’. I’m loving Spider-Man even more each day. I would happily bone him!”

Jason’s cheeks went slightly red as Philip said It but shook it off as he realised something.

“Wait, how’d they know it was spiderman- he was wearing all black?” He asked.

Philip laughed,” ummm because of the webs coming out of his hands or arms or whatever. You’re a real idiot, you know that?”

Inside Jason face palmed at how stupid he was to use Spider-Mans powers, he was meant to be a superhero, not a graffiti artist.


	7. Chapter 7: a little bit of cinnamon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m not gonna upload for a hot minute, I’m going on holiday

Marvin had been working non- stop all week, only eating if Whizzer forced him to. He awoke from his daze of work as his head began to pound from his lack of food, sleep and drink so he yawned, reaching for his crutches that he kept hidden under the desk in his office. He massaged his temples, taking off his glasses and leaving them on the desk as he got up, slowly making his way to the coffee machine at the other end of the room, and switching it on. 

“THEA, what’s the time?” He asked the empty room, yawning mid sentence.   
“Twelve minutes past two AM.” The disembodied voice replied instantly.

Marvin sighed and hobbled out of his office to his main lab work floor, walking through his employees work for the day, and stopped when he reached the workbench that belonged to his boyfriend, smiling as he smelt Whizzers distinctive mix of his lemongrass aftershave and mint gum- which somehow smelt so good together. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the flash of pink, a shade Whizzer would never use on his desk, so he rifled through the papers in a pile before he found it. The sticky note had his own handwriting quickly scrawled over it and was peeling slightly, as though it had been peeled and unpeeled several times. He removed it and gasped as he was able to see the whole picture.

A beautiful and sharp sketch of a new iron man suit, mainly gold but with dark red metallic accents across different panels of it. Marvin smiled at how talented Whizzer was before he heard the sound of his coffee machine beeping. Being careful to not crease the paper, he limped back to his office, having trouble picking up the mug of black coffee whilst using the crutches and holding the new design, so he gave up, downing the whole thing. He winced as he tongue scorched and tingled from the burning sensation before he slowly walked to the keypad on the other side of the room, trying to use his crutches as little as possible. It only took a second to type the four digit password, two zero zero one, and the door opened.

He was saddened at the view, the iron man suit that was falling apart. Marvin sighed at the inevitability that he was retiring yet another suit and got to work, scanning the sketch into a large computer , using it to create a three dimensional model and began to make a couple of tweaks and adjustment. Once he was happy with the design, he pressed several buttons and instantly the large machine in the centre of the room began to break apart the suit, the long arms whizzing around at breakneck speed. He sat back in the rotating office chair and watched the process of his suit being remade, concentrating how the arms would work almost like a 3D printer.

He fell asleep as he watched only to be woken at four AM by the intercom system.

“Spiderman has been spotted over Times Square.” She announced and Marvin quickly got into the finished suit, smiling at how sleek the latest design was. 

“Aight, take me to him.”

-

“Ayy Spidey, haven’t seen you in a while!” Iron Man yelled as he caught up to Spider-Man, flying alongside the swinging boy.

“Yeah Man! Where you been?” Spiderman replied, narrowly missing a streetlight.

“Oh you know-“ iron Man replied in a joke tone “-not much, the norm, getting shot.”

“What the fuck!” Spiderman yelled in surprise, almost letting go of his web in shock, “tell me everything!”

The pair reached a natural stopping point and sat on the roof of the building, its curved edges and gorgeous view of the dark city providing a peace the was not usually found in New York. 

“It wasn’t too bad, I’ve been shot before.” Spiderman pulled up his ski mask over his mouth and from his basketball shorts pocket, took out a joint, lit it and offered it to iron man, who instantly took it. “Also I’m loving the street art, reminds me of my son.”

“You have a son, how old is he?” Spiderman asked, taking the joint from him.

Iron man nodded,” yeah he’s seventeen and I don’t understand him which makes me sound fuckin’ old!” He exclaimed. 

Spiderman laughed, coughing as he took a long drag from the joint. “Yo, I’m seventeen! Also I don’t understand my Dad either, so you good.” He started to swing his legs over the ledge, his bare heels tapping on the concrete. 

“Fuck man, help me out here. He’s pissed at me, and I get why, but I just… what do I do?”

Spiderman shrugged, blowing a long puff of smoke delicately from his mouth,” I’m sure it’s not as bad as you think.”

Iron man deadpanned,” he calls me a prick on a daily bases.”

“Oof, not great-“ iron man stole the joint back from him “- just give him some space, but still show that you care.” Jason thought back to what he wanted his own Dad to do.

“You got a girl spidey? You sound like you could be a good Dad.” Iron man smiled.

Spiderman laughed, admiring the view to avoid Iron man’s stare. “I don’t know Man, I’m young and shit-“ he lowered his voice slightly “- also I don’t know whether I’m into girls.”

Marvin felt bad for the kid, remembering how he had gone through the same thing when he was Spider-Man’s age.

“In my experience, you should just experiment. Fuck whoever you want to fuck and work it out later-“ he laughed to himself “- but don’t get married to a woman if you’re gay, never works out.”

Spiderman laughed knowingly, “never works out.” He repeated, thinking to his own parents. They sat in silence for a minute, looking over the skyline, the sun beginning to peak over the furthest skyscrapers in the distance. 

“Your new suits nice- what happened to the old one?” Spiderman asked, covering his eyes as the sun hit the building they sat on. 

Iron man chuckled slightly “ my helper said I had a small glitch in the latest update, I used it and the whole foot fell off!” Spiderman giggled, clutching his stomach and smiling. “Yo spidey- you know I could design you a proper suit. Maybe a bullet proof one-“ iron man offered.

Spiderman cut him off, laughing,” man, why would I need a bulletproof one, there’s only really petty crime around here, no master villains at the moment, nothing going on in space.”

He looked to iron man, but could sense the seriousness coming from him.

“I got lucky the other day kid. There was this new guy, someone worse than I expected. You saw the Amerisavings and loan shoot out aight?” Spiderman nodded, “I thought it was a robbery, but it was a trap- these two guys were wearing batman masks and a third guy was wearing a joker mask, it was fucking twisted man.” He paused for a second, stuck for what to say next. “Anyway, they had these massive guns, new explosives and there was a machine that, at first I thought was another gun, but it was this blue laser thing.” Inside the suit his eyebrows knitted together as he tried to explain what it did,” when it hit me, it seemed to freeze me In the air, and it started to drain the battery from my suit. That was when my boot fell off, my suit was tryin’ to conserve power. Turns out they didn’t even take any money. They just came for me.”

Spiderman pulled his mask back down over his mouth and flicked the weed away, watching it fall as far as he could follow it.

“Anything else?” The put in Jason’s stomach grew as he said it, knowing there was more to come. 

“Yeah, he had this little black box thing- wasn’t really a weapon, but fuck man- that shit was painful to hear. He spoke into it and I could’ve sworn on my life that it sounded like my son.”

A confused look crossed Jason’s face and his eyebrows furrowed. “But that’s… that’s.” He whispered you himself “impossible.” Then his eyes widened slightly as he thought,”unless…” He pulled the sleeve of the hoodie up and stuck out his arm to iron man, showing him a tiny scar on his wrist. His voice increased in volume as he explained,” when I first became spiderman, I kept having to disguise my voice when I was around people I knew. I managed to create a microchip that uses radio signals and high pitches frequencies that connect to my phone via Bluetooth. It means my voice sounds virtually like someone else’s in a more natural sounding way, I just turn it on or off from my phone. I had to cut up my arm to insert it because I got it wrong a couple times.”

Throughout his monologue, the jaw of iron mans suit fell slowly further and further down. 

“And you’re seventeen?”

“I skipped a year of school.”

“And you somehow did this… with resources… at school?”

“Uh huh…” Jason nodded as he thought back to the numerous nights he had spent sneaking into his Dads office, trying to figure out how much he could steal before Marvin would notice “… school.”

“Can yours change?”

“Change?” Spiderman asked as he pulled down his sleeve, checking his watch as he did.

“That’s the thing. I told him to leave the boy alone and he seemed genuinely… I don’t know? He said ‘so it sounds like a boy to you’ then he asked if I had a son. He would only know that if he knew my identity.” Iron man got up, hovering an inch or so above the ground.” Is yours heard differently by different people?” 

Spider-Man shrugged, getting up also, and balancing precariously on the ledge,” in some sense, yes, it depends how the different frequencies are heard. For example, older people won’t be able to hear the highest frequencies, meaning my voice with sound closer to my real voice. But actually change? There must be some crazy mind-reading shit in that to make it happen- unless he knew your identity.”

Iron man hummed in reply.

“Look imma head off- school and shit.” Spiderman saluted to iron man and shot his web out to the closest building on the opposite side of the street.

“Aight, guess I’ll see you ‘round.”

Spiderman disappeared as he meant off of the building until a few seconds later he was seen again, leaping to another high rising building. Iron man flew through the city, stopping at a bodega to buy two cups of coffee, asking for a little sprinkling of cinnamon and leaving a hundred dollar tip. As he left he was bombarded by reporters and press. 

“What the f…” he trailed off realising he was on live television.  
“Iron man, we have reports that you were seen flying into Feldman industries. Can we a assume that Mr Feldman knows your identity?”

Marvin kicked himself, reminding himself to be more careful next time. “No, my identity remains a secret, but I asked him to redesign my suit after a particularly dangerous ‘mission’” As he spoke the reporters quietened for a second, captivated by his words.” He asked me to credit his bo- his head architect and design manager for the design of my new suit which is spectacular.”

As soon as he finished speaking they began to question him again. Vultures, he scoffed in his head.

“So do you know his son?”  
“No- I have had strictly work meetings.” He replied, sighing as he realised they would only be questions about his personal life.  
“I have reports that his ex-wife, Trina has been spotted out dates, what are Mr Feldmans views on that?”

Marvin took a deep breathe in, the amount of people beginning to panic him. 

In large numbers, it is easier to conceal a weapon.

“Even if I did know-I would not tell you. The fact of Trina’s relationship only has to do with Trina and whoever she is dating. It is the same with Mr Feldman, his son and his own sexuality. None of your business. Now if you’ll excuse me, I would like to get home so I can drink my Well deserved coffee in peace.”

He flew directly upwards, leaving the crowded street, still irritated by the reporters.

THEA, switch on invisibility mode.”

Instantly he blended into the air as an image of the sky was projected to the front of the suit. He made it into his office just in time as Whizzer bounced in. 

“Marv! Guess what?” He almost yelled as he kissed Marvins cheek as a hello and rocked forward onto the balls of his feet. 

Marvin handed home the second coffee,”what?” 

“Iron Man is wearing my design-“ he hopped to and down in excitement “-he credited me and everything!”

Marvin smiled at how happy Whizzer was,”Baby, that’s amazing!”

“I know!” His smile was wide and his nose scrunched slightly in his happiness causing Marvin to melt into a tiny pool of Water. Whizzer took a small sip of his coffee,”you know me too well Marv” he said as he savoured the taste, “something sweet!” 

“A little bit of cinnamon!”


	8. Chapter 8: the past

Marvin woke up to Whizzer’s hair tickling his neck, his warm breath even and relaxed. Their legs were entangled at the bottom of the bed and Marvin looked down at his sleeping boyfriend, smiling as he ran his nails delicately over Whizzers back. Whizzer stirred slightly in his sleep and Marvin sighed with content as he looked down at the peace on his face. His heart hurt at the sight, the beautiful man who refused to believe he was getting older, who would pluck out the tiny grey hairs and forget about them even though Marvin was able to see them on the back of his neck. The tiny forehead wrinkles that he would obsess over every morning in the mirror or how he got flustered when Marvin said they were cute. He always forgot that Whizzer was not his until Marvin would ask him what he was doing on a certain night and Whizzer would remind him that it was another of his flings evening. Every time his heart would break slightly and he would shut himself out, away from Whizzer for a couple of days. This cycled had continued for ten months, although Whizzer would always argue that it was nine. 

“Hey you.” Whizzer’s voice was low and gruff as he looked up at Marvin, his eyes tired but content. 

“Hey baby, how was your sleep?” Marvin kissed Whizzers cheek, swinging his legs around so that he was sitting on the edge of his bed. 

Whizzer turned so he was laying on his side, watching Marvin put on a suit for the day “it was fine, come back to bed Marv- I know you don’t have any meetings today so … we could spend all day in bed!” Whizzer looked up at Marvin feigning a look of innocence, eyes wide and lips parted slightly. Marvin looked up from tying his tie and Whizzers look of innocence instantly shifted, biting his lips and rolling his eyes back into his head and emitting a moan “daddy!” In an attempt to seduce Marvin who shook his head.

“What about tonight?” Marvin asked. Whizzer got up and fiddled with the ugly patterned tie, undoing it with his nimble fingers. 

“Baby, you know I can’t.” Whizzer sighed as he picked out a better suited tie,” I’ve got a date. What about tomorrow Morning?” He asked, tying the tie around Marvin’s neck.

He pulled away from Whizzer,” Aight, but you need to come before Jason.” Whizzer snickered as he said it, Marvin giving him the death stare in return. He kissed Whizzer goodbye and as soon as he left the room started to limp again, going to his bathroom and taking the painkillers he had left on the side. He tipped the last two into his hand and hummed in irritants as he dry swallowed them then brushed his teeth, scrunching his nose at the bitter taste of the mixture. He went to the living room, getting into the elevator and waiting as it flew downwards, stopping every now and again for people to get in or out, all of them standing awkwardly as the boss stood with them. He reached the floor with his personal car park and walked through the masses of cars, trailing his fingers over them as he tried to decide which one to take. He decided on an obnoxious green Lamborghini, getting in and speeding through the city, the ‘Feldman industry’ license plates meaning it was unlikely he would be stopped by the cops.

-

The leather couch in the room smelt of sex, which Marvin found odd. His Doctor had always said he did not have a personal life, that his passion was work. Yet he still lay on it, smelling something else the felt faintly familiar, clutching a pillow to his chest. 

Suddenly the door opened and Dr Mendel Weisenbachfeld flurries into the room, sitting on the chair opposite. 

“Sorry I’m late Marvin, you know how the traffic gets.” Marvin rolled his eyes at the string of excuses Mendel added, “so, what would you like to discuss today?”

Marvin sat up quickly, swinging his legs around so he was sitting normally,” all I need is a refill on my meds.”

Mendel got up, walking to his desk and rifled through a stack of papers until he found a notepad, sitting down again on the chair opposite the sofa. He flipped through the notepad until he found an empty page,” Marvin, you know I need to give you a full session before I can prescribe you anything.” 

Marvin flopped back down on the sofa, huffing like a child. 

“So, anything new?” Mendel stared at Marvin as if he already knew everything.

Marvin sighed, debating how much he should tell Mendel. “I was shot about a week ago and it… it took me back there.” He avoided Mendel’s gaze, knowing it would be sympathetic, “I’ve been taking my opioids daily instead of every now and again because of it, and I haven’t been sleeping unless it’s with-“ his face softened into a smile “-Whizzer.”

Mendel wrote down several things as he spoke,” so, how did you get shot?”

“Not important.”

“Alright, what do you see when you go back?”

Marvin closed his eyes, breathing slowly from his nose as he tried to go back to the dark place in his mind,”it started the same way as usual, I’m in a village like the one in Afghanistan, we’re checking for civilians…”

Suddenly he was back there, his nightmare scape, the sandy houses acting as a maze for him. In the distance he could hear the screams of people running followed by the echoing gunshots. Marvin gripped his assault rifle tight, his dusty camouflage uniform let him blend into the landscape. He snuck glances towards his commander who signalled him to go on and he quickly stuck the barrel of the gun outwards around the corner, pressing himself against the wall as he looked down the sight.

“Clear.” He whispered as he turned to nod to his commander. 

He saw its reflection before he actually saw it. The large wolf standing on its hind legs, gun in hand. It shot his commander from behind before Marvin even had a chance to yell. The bullet punched its way through her neck, causing a gaping hole in its wake that quickly filled with blood and gushed out. His commander fell to the ground, a pool of blood forming around her and quickly soaked into her uniform as she choked on it. The wolf jumped from the roof and sniffed at the still writhing body of the commander, spluttering from the blood slowly filling her mouth. The wolf began to lap up the blood from the wound, the commander shaking in pain before it put her out of her misery, throwing its head back in a howl before snapping her neck with its teeth. Marvin watched, frozen in terror as his grip on the gun loosened.

It was loud. So, so loud Marvin could not even hear the shot gun itself as a distinct sound; instead it was a ringing as it echoed through the maze he was in.

He did not feel pain, or impact. Instead it was more like a massive heat, which rapidly turned into a throbbing, tingling numbness. Marvin knew something had happened but his mind not caught up with it. He staggered and fell to his knees, mostly aware of the feeling of intense wrongness with his entire back and upper body. 

Unexpectedly he vomited a mess of bright blood, he did not even feel the reflex coming; one moment Marvin was on his knees, the next there was blood splattering the dusty floor. Then he fell over. He was in shock, mostly, could not move, see or nearly hear.

That’s when he finally started to feel actual pain. Not so much from his front, but every time he took a breath there would be a stabbing pain in his whole chest locked up tight, squeezing the air back out. He was just on the verge of total blackout, fighting to stay awake, not panic and get some air in with shallow, controlled breaths that they were taught in training. Then his vision began to spot and fade with each and every time he blinked.

“According to Dr Randy J. Hartman, there are 12 steps to PTSD.” 

Marvin shuddered in his hyper alert state, getting up and wiping his palms on his suit trouser, pacing around Mendel’s office, facing the door at all possible moments. He began to sweat, his heart beating heavily as his fight or flight responses peaked. 

Mendel continued,”the activating Event, the pain, confusion, guilt, shame, your self worth dissipates, you feel anxiety, fear, anger, resentment, depression, then acute anxiety. Where do you think you are Marvin?”

Marvin did not reply, just continued to pace trying to hear every motion outside the door.

Mendel sighed “Why does Whizzer make you feel better Marvin?”

This time Marvin began to talk nervously,” he sleeps in the same bed as me, Trina never did. If I ever wake up, and I’m still ‘there’ he comforts me, he’s a light sleeper.” Mendel smiled, realising talking about whizzer was the way to go.

“Do you Love him?” He asked, cocking his head to the side, 

“Sort of. I don’t know. Kinda. Every time I feel myself slipping I catch myself-“ he began to calm down as they discussed Whizzer, slowing down his pacing slightly, but his eyes still continued to fix onto the door. “- he doesn’t love Me, he’s still fucking other guys. I just, I need him and I don’t know why.” He smiled sadly as he wiped his brow. “If he loved me I’d tell him.”

“You can’t despise the fact that you love him, instead change the direction of it a little, love him more as a friend.”

Marvin raised an eyebrow as he stopped pacing, staring at Mendel,” YOU are seriously giving ME relationship advice, Mr ‘I haven’t had sex for at least a year’” he deadpanned.

“Moving on, let’s talk about sex. When he’s naked, does he thrill you?”

“Fuck yes, he doesn’t even need to be naked, but again- if he reminds me of any of the other guys… I freak, stay away from him for a while.” 

A strange look crossed Mendel’s face for a second. “Is the sex… good?”

“Hells yes.”  
“And did you tell Whizzer you got shot?”

A sheepish look came over Marvin and he sat down again in an arm chair that faced the door, his hands fidgeting In his lap.

“Why not?” Mendel asked, writing something down on his paper.

“Because he’d worry about me.”  
“Where were you shot?”  
“My foot.”  
“How were you… how did you walk?” A puzzled look crossed Mendel’s face.

“I invented a shoe that doesn’t actually touch the ground, makes pretending I’m okay so much easier. Still hurts like a motherfucker.” Mendel’s face became even more confused, “don’t worry Doc- you aren’t smart enough to understand.” A cocky grin spread over his face before he turned back to the door, heart still pumping double time.

Mendel flipped back though his notebook to their previous session. “So Marvin, how is Jason doing?”

“Not great. We had a family dinner last week, but I was too busy being shot at to go. I still haven’t made up with him, also I haven’t had the chance to meet my Wife, sorry, ex wife’s new boyfriend.” Mendel cringed slightly knowing Marvin was unknowingly talking about him,” apparently he was psychoanalysing my boyfriend all night!”

“I wouldn’t say all night.” Mendel muttered under his breath.

“What was that?” Marvin asked

“I asked, what happened later that night?” Mendel corrected.

Marvin breathed out heavily,” he’s pissed at me but I can’t exactly tell him I was shot-“ he sat up, hugging the pillow tightly “- what should I do now?”

Mendel checked his watch, getting up to his desk and typing on his laptop. “Times up Marvin, but it think we made some headway.”

Marvin’s jaw dropped as he stared at mendel, “I’m pretty sure I had a PTSD attack- but sure, whatever.”

“Anyway, I’ve renewed your description, pick it up at a local drug store.” Marvin rolled his eyes,”I guess I’ll see you next week.” Marvin had already started making excuses in his head.

“Yeah, I’ll see you next week doc.”

-

“Yo ma, I’m home.” Jason yelled through his house as he hung his coat up. He was about to run up the stairs when he heard his Mum.

“Jason Marvin Feldman!” Trina yelled and Jason paused mid step, wincing as he braced himself.

“Hey mama.” Jason sweet talked as he turned around to see his mother’s furious face “have I told you how much I love you recently .” Trina crossed her arms and began to tap her finger on her arm, “Mummy, you’re looking gorgeous in That outfit.” He smiled sheepishly at her.

“Come here.” He followed her into the kitchen, trying to make up an excuse as they walked, but suddenly his eyes locked into the face of Marvin.

“Dad, what are you doing here?” He said it so spitefully that Marvin winced slightly.

“Hey Jason.” He walked towards his son,” look I’m so sorry I missed family dinner last week, but I love you so much and sometimes it’s difficult for me to show it, so tonight, family dinner, just the three of us!” He put his hand out for a handshake. “I know this isn’t much, but I want to start making amends.” 

Jason shook his head and pulled his dad into a hug instead,” I’m trying and new thing- forgiving people.” Jason said, letting go of Marvin “anyways… imma go…”

“Stop right there Jason.” The frown on his mother’s face deepened. Jason sighed realising he had not got off of the hook.” Your school phoned me-“ Jason put a hand on his neck, avoiding his Mother’s eye contact “- they said that you’ve already had five detentions and skipped two lessons.”

“Before you say anything, remember how I got all A’s last year and had a four point two GPA…” he smiled innocently, raising his eyebrows in hope.

“Don’t give me that crap. You are grounded for a week mister, and I will know if you sneak out.” Trina cut in, giving him a no nonsense stare. Jason sulked out of the room, Trina yelling after him,” dinners at half eight.”

Jason ran up the stairs and flopped face first onto the bed, groaning and Mumbling. He grabbed his phone from his school back pack and started scrolling through his Instagram, quickly getting bored and switching to snapchat and checking his friends stories, seeing them out together and sighed.

“Fuck this-“ he said to himself before slipping on a ski mask and his Spiderman outfit,”- I ain’t staying here.” He locked his door and slid out of his window, swinging silently through the city.

-

The fresh air was exactly what Jason needed and he got home at eight making sure he stuck close to the wall and he climbed up it. It was already dark and his window had somehow closed, so silently he slid it up, sneaking through the tiny window opening and closing it soundlessly behind him as he hung upside down from the ceiling. Using his core strength, he pulled up his upper body so his hands were stuck to the ceiling , creeping slowly along it until he got to his bed, dropping down his feet and falling into a superhero pose.

“WHAT THE FUCK?!” Jason turned around to see Philip, his best friend Philip, sitting at his desk having watched him crawl on the ceiling.

Jason pulled off the ski mask,” would you believe me If I told you, you’re hallucinating?” 

“What the fuck!” Philip yelled again “you’re spiderman!”

“Shhhh, do my parents know you’re here?” Jason asked quickly changing in front of Philip.

“YOU’RE SPIDERMAN!”

Jason sighed covering Philips mouth with his hand,”alright Pip, we get it. You cannot tell anyone, okay?” Philip mumbled something into Jason’s hand and he took it away.

“What?” He groaned.

“So that’s how you got so ripped!” Philip almost shouted. Jason rolled his eyes before raising his eyebrows.

“Wait, have you been watching me change?” Jason smirked. 

Philip blushed slightly, gesturing wilding, “you literally just stripped in front of me!”


	9. Chapter 9: curly hair and starry freckles

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> https://youtu.be/rDbno_x1LME 
> 
> Yo my dudes, I’m back! 
> 
> Basically my GCSE results came out last week which was crazy!! Idk if yall understand but I got 6-9s, 4-8s and 1- 7 which gets me into the best 6th form in the country!!! I’m going to COLLEGE! Also the UKs government is broken if they thought I would’ve got a 9 in German, like what the hell. I can’t even remember how to say hello my name is Gracie 🌻💛. 
> 
> (That’s a joke, Hallo, Ich heiße Gracie🌻💛)
> 
> Now the reason this chapter took so long was because I was making an ANIMATION! It’s to ‘Marvin hits Trina’ and the links above! This took me a week working from 8 am to 00:00 am. So that was fun. Anyway, I hope yall enjoy.

The car acted as a greenhouse and Jason say in the bright green Lamborghini. He tapped his steering wheel, stressing about the fact that he had to let a random girl into his house to meet his father. What if she didn’t keep who he was a secret? What if she laughed at his father and his friends?

He heard a tap on his window and turned to see Zoe waiting, she opened the door as he painted a smile onto his face and got into the low sports car.

“You have a nice car.” She smiled, gawking at the large tablet in the dashboard.

Jason snorted slightly, “thanks, it’s my Dad.” He didn’t like the colour, it was obnoxious and loud as though it was boasting, ‘I own this half of a half a million dollar car’.

He waited for her to put on her seatbelt before taking the car out of parking and began to drive, car filling with an uncomfortable silence. He could see her taking small glances at him when she thought he was not looking and tried to read her. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her putting her long brown hair up in a high ponytail, seeing tiny pink streaks that he had never seen before. 

“I like your hair.” He said, eyes still focused on the road.  
“Thanks-“ she sounded slightly flustered”- my parents wont let me dye it, so I had to improvise. You can only see it when I put my hair up.”

Jason nodded and it was back to silence again. He reached into his pocket , grabbing his phone with his eyes still on the road, and handed it to Zoe. 

“You can put on some music if you like.”  
He could almost feel her anxiety spike as she asked,” what if you don’t like it?”

“I’m sure I can deal with it.” Jason laughed   
“What’s your password?” Zoe asked, examining Jason’s lock screen. It was a photo of him and Philip laying on top of each other, laughing into the camera.

“Two zero zero one.” Jason replied.  
“I didn’t know you and Philip were together.” She said softly as she typed the password in. She went to Spotify and searched up her playlist, pressing play to find ‘starfish and coffee’ by prince booming through the speakers. 

“We’re not, just best friends.” Jason replied as he began to Bob his head along to the music,” I haven’t heard this song in years.”

“You know it?”  
“Yeah, my mum used to play it when she cleaned.” He thought back to when he was little, his mum dancing around the apartment with rags under her feet, holding him in her arms, Jason clapping song to the beat.

The rest of the ride was spent singing and dancing as Jason tried to figure out who the hell zoe was from her choice of music. Her playlist seemed to have a song from every genre, and just when he thought he understood her, a while new song came on.

What seemed like ages later, he indicated left and drove under the familiar, looming building that was Feldman Industries.

“Holy smokes! You live here?” Zoe asked, her large innocent eyed open wide as he drove through the parking lot. 

“Muh huh” Jason hummed, wondering how someone so smart had not yet figured out who he was. He continued to weave his way through cars until he made it to the ends, turning into an almost unseeable gap and parked the car amongst the numerous other expensive ones his Dad owned. Then he opened his door, the batwing flying into to the air, and tried to get out of the low sports car, the height making it difficult for the 5”10 boy. He turned to help Zoe out of the passenger side, but was shocked to see her gone. 

“Yo, Zoe- where’d you go?” He stayed, voice echoing through the concrete box.

From the other end of the room he saw her jump up, “Jason is this a limited edition Lamborghini limousine, I.e. a Lambo limo? I.e a LIMBO?” She yelled across to him.

Jason scoffed under his breath at the fact his Dad bought the most stupid car he had ever seen and yelled back,” Yep, has none of the comfort of a limo and none of the speed of a lambo, now come on.” She ran back to him, her converse slapping along the floor and they stood by the elevator. Jason bent over slightly and pressed the retinal scanner, grumbling something about how it was too early for this kind of shit as Zoe continued to look at the cars.

“You know, I thought only Marvin Feldman lived here.” She said, and Jason almost facepalmed.  
“D’you watch the news?” He asked   
“Not really” she replied, following him Into the elevator. 

Jason laughed slightly,” aight, this may be a bit of a shock.”

He pressed the button to the penthouse and the elevator shot upwards, stopping at busy work floors where zoe would look out curiously at the bustling work life.

“Hey kid!” His Dads secretary said as he got on at the seventeenth floor, holding his hand over the phone speaker, and quickly pressing the button for the twentieth floor. 

“Oh hey Luke- who’s calling?” Jason asked curiously.

Luke replied,” I’ve got Elon on line one, New York’s congressman on two and the pizza guy on three. Tell your Dad I need a break!”

The lift stopped and Luke hurried out,” don’t worry Man ,I will!” Jason yelled after him.

Zoe stared at him, eyes wide,”Elon and in Elon Musk?”

“Do you know any other Elon’s?” Jason pointed out. Zoe shrugged and suddenly the elevator slowed to a halt, the doors dinged and he entered the room looking around for Marvin.

“Hey Dad, I’m he- HOLY SHIT!” He quickly jumped around to face away from his Dad and Whizzer laying in just their shirts on the couch. “You know this is how Mum found out about you guys, so I’d suggest locking the fucking doors once in a while!”

“Language Jason!” Whizzer replied as he pulled his trousers up, searching the room for his belt that Marvin had threw across the room,” so, who’s the lady?” 

“This is Zoe.” Jason cautiously turned around, we’ve got an AP lit project to do.” He gestured to Whizzer, “this is Whizzer, my Dads… boyfriend?” He noticed how every time he had used or heard the word ‘boyfriend’ he would flinch slightly, try to make it unnoticeable.”and this is-“

“You’re Marvin Feldman!” Zoe butted in,” wow your latest work on biodegradable nuclear weaponry is insane, how is that even possible!”

Marvin cocked his head slightly as he looked at Jason,”I dunno.”

He was met by a hard smack on the back of his head by Whizzer,” you’re going to stop being an antisocial bastard for a second and talk to your sons friend” he muttered into Marvin’s ear, moving his head up until it rested on top of Marvin’s, their height difference causing him to giggle at how short his boyfriend was.

Marvin sighed before replacing his moody look with a grateful face to see his son home,” sorry Zoe, I’m stupid after sex.” Whizzer flicked the back of his head and Zoe blushed slightly, her freckles standing out even more.” The hardest part was figuring out how to make a material that was strong and heavy that could contain radioactive metals and shit so nuclear fission could occur, whilst being able to decompose and the-“

“- radioactive metals not permanently damage the landscape!” She finished with him.

Marvin threw her a sideways smile,” I’m impressed! So you do actually follow my work.”

Zoe smiled widely,”I do! How did you come up with the concept.”

A proud smile flooded his face as he walked over to Jason, pulling him into a side hug,” well my son inspired it!”

Jason slipped out of the hug,” I am not touching you until you’ve washed your hands… and burnt the sofa.”

Marvin rolled his eyed and continued,”I drink a shit tonne of coffee and Jason got pissed at me because of the amount of non- recyclable coffee cups there were in the trash, so I decided to change that, then the idea kind of just dawned on me-“ 

“- and he missed family dinner so he could work on it.” Jason said saltily. Memories of that night flashed through marvin’s head and he shifted his weight off of his injured foot. “-yeah, something like that.”

Jason quickly excused himself, telling his Dad and Whizzer to keep Zoe company and ran to his room, shoving his clothes into random drawers. He stopped wiping his brow as something he heard earlier stuck to him. One word. ‘Pissed.’ To someone else that may seem like a normal word, but to Jason…he had only really heard two people use it often. His father and Iron Man. He remembered his dad explaining it once, how it was more common in Britain and he had picked it up from a group of English soldiers in Afghanistan when he served. So Jason began to compare things, iron man had a seventeen year old son who was ‘pissed’ at him, Marvin had a Seventeen year old son who was ‘pissed’ at him. Iron man was shot in the foot, Marvin had been walking funny recently. He blushed bright red as his Mum talking about how big Whizzers dick was came back to him, he knew first hand that, that shit hurt! Besides, Iron man was selfless, smart, but in a quick thinking- common sense kind of way. His Dad was stupid, talked with proper grammar most of the time and was cold as ice. Jason laughed at his theory saying to himself, “the day my dad is iron man, is the day I’m shot!” He quickly finished up his room and walked back down the hall, slowing slightly as he heard the conversation going on in the living room. 

“Have you heard of Jason being with anyone, romantic styles?” Marvin asked quietly, “his mother will literally beat me if I don’t find out something about my son.”

“I’m sorry, I’m not close with him.” Zoe replied,” although I did think he was with Philip Hamilton, apparently they’re just friends.”

Jason entered the room, rolling his eyes,” two things- one, Philip is JUST my friend, two, why does everyone thing I’m gay? Just because I don’t exude toxic masculinity and don’t mind kissing my friends.”

Marvin opened his mouth to speak, but whizzer snaked his arms around Marvin’s waist, tucking his chin on marvin’s shoulder. “Come on baby-“ he whispered into his ear,”- let’s stop interrogating Jason and go to work.”

Marvin squinted from Jason to Zoe before spinning around to kiss Whizzer, “alright, let me go get dressed into a clean shirt.” 

Jason shuddered as whizzer and Marvin laughed at their inside joke and Marvin quickly walked away, a slight limp in his step and Whizzer turned to face the pair. 

“Look, I’m not a Dad, but I do know enough to tell you to leave the door open. Jason, I’m chill with the pot, but I don’t know if your Dad is. THEA is set up so she’ll warn you if Marvin’s coming, you can thank me later. If you and Zoe do anything, I’m not one to judge, growing up hella closeted and needing to prove you’re straight does make you have sex with A LOT of people.” 

Jason made a face of disgust and shook in embarrassment, an awkward look crossing Zoe’s pink face,” look, we just have a school project-“ she began

“- condoms are stashed everywhere, at least you didn’t grow up all churchy like I did, sometimes I wonder how I didn’t get anyone pregnant.” 

Jason took Zoe’s wrist and dragged her to his bedroom, her turning around and yelling”- it was nice meeting you Whizzer!”

Marvin popped his head around the door, walking out slowly in a new suit. “What happened? Where’d they go?” He asked.

“I’m not good with kids marv.” Whizzer replied, sighing,” I just don’t know how to, you know, talk to them, so I treat them like adults.”

Marvin held Whizzers face in his hands, kissing his nose on tiptoes and said,” you’re definitely better than me, what did you talk about?”

A sheepish grin crossed Whizzers face,” sex.”

Marvin burst into laughter, “baby, You can’t even talk to most adults about sex. Come on, let’s go downstairs.”

-

Jason ended up taking Zoe to the roof, and they lay on the hot concrete helipad, each working on separate things.

“How come you don’t tell people who your Dad is?” Zoe’s dat up, her eyebrows knitting together.

Jason looked up from the thumbnails he was drawing,”don’t wanna be treated differently.” He replied. “Here, which one?” He chucked the sketchbook at Zoe.

She scrunched her nose slightly, “this one-“ she threw it back “- how have you been a secret for so long?” 

Jason raised an eyebrow,”I dunno, ask my Dad.”

She left him alone for a bit as he left her to go get his spray paints and a large wooden board. He put on a mask and painted the background, then sat, waiting for it to dry.

“Wait, so what’s the deal with your life?”  
“Excuse me?” Jason looked up from his phone a quizzical look on his face. 

“What’s your family history?” She asked 

“You are so fucking nosey, I thought you were quiet! Haven’t you got work to do?” He exclaimed.

Zoe got up and sat opposite him,” no, I’m done. Anyway, if you give him a mask, he’ll tell you the truth.”

Jason hummed,” Oscar Wilde.” He put his phone in his pocket and turned to her, “you can’t tell anyone any of this, my Dad will kill me.” Zoe nodded, eager to find out more about the boy she had ‘known’ for years.

“My Dad grew up in group homes, probably why he has emotional issues. Anyway, he went to college, but you know, crippling debt, so he signed up for the army at twenty one. I think he did two or three tours, they got extended, but I don’t really know how many, he doesn’t like to talk about it, and I get it. He got shot once and he got sent home on medical leave after this bomb exploded, almost killing him. He designed the pacer that he got fitted with and it basically made him immortal, I guess the government found it impressive, gave him a grant or something and he built this-“ Jason waved around at the building “- so he gets successful and shit and my Mum starts working for him, they get together, Mum gets preggers, they get married because she’s hella Jewish. I don’t think I ever saw them happy together, and I think my Mum always knew he was cheating on her, I mean come on, he had so many sex scandals. Anyway, fast forward to this year, my mum walks in on Whizzer and my Dad doin’ the nasty, but makes my Dad keep it a secret for three months-“ 

“- no way!” Zoe interrupted.

“Yes way, anyway I literally found out about my parents divorce the day before the press did, hated my parents all summer and here we are!”

“Wow.”  
“I know.”  
“What about Whizzer? He seemed slightly anxious when you called him your ‘Dads Boyfriend’.”

Jason sighed, “yeah, I don’t really know why, to be honest, I don’t know anything about him.” He puzzled, questioning if he actually knew anything at all. “I met him briefly a couple years ago, for the past year he started to work close with my Dad and came over for dinner- but I had no clue they were screwing until last week, so I’m really overwhelmed at the moment.”

“Fuck.”  
“I know”

-

He knocked on the office door, Zoe trailing slowly behind Jason as she looked curiously at everything. He peeked his head around the door and saw his dad working at the desk, large retractable screens surrounding him. 

“Hey Dad, I’m taking Zoe home.” Jason was met with silence and sighed. “Okay, I guess I’ll see you later.” He closed the door behind him and he felt the lump in his throat grow. 

“Are you alright?” She asked.

He took Zoe roughly by her bicep and pulled her to the elevator, “let’s go.” He said, his voice burly as he held back his urge to cry. 

They drove back in silence, Jason swallowing his tear back, realising his Dad would never change. He slowed the car as they reached the spot he had picked Zoe up from and stopped, keeping his eyes on the road.

“You know Jason, you’re not actually a dick.” She put her hair down again and she looked in the rearview mirror, taking a makeup wipe out of her handbag and wiping away her dark eyeliner and lipstick, replacing it with lip gloss. 

“Ummm… thanks I guess. Please don’t tell anyone about my family.” 

She looked at him, her sweet eyes filled with sympathy and smiled. “Of course not. Have a good night Jason.” She gently kissing his cheek and got out, pulling her croptop down into a T-shirt and rolling her skirt down to her knees.

Jason rubbed the lipgloss off of his cheek and after seeing her step into the warm glow of her house, let his head drop to his steering wheel and let his tears fall silently down his face, not sure how he wanted to handle his life. He began to reverse out of his parking spot ready to drive home, but suddenly froze as he realised where he needed to go.

-

“Jason? What are you doing here?”  
“Hey Pip, I need to talk to your Dads.”

Philip instantly nodded and Jason followed him into their small Kitchen, Philips biological dad standing over a pot on the stove, his long curly hair bouncing over his shoulders. He turned as he noticed his son enter and a charming smile followed when he saw Jason.

“Hey Pip, hey Jason, Philip didn’t day you were joining us for dinner.”

“Hey Mr Lauren’s, I actually came to talk to you guys.”

“Call me John, Alex and I basically already think of you as a son.” He turned off the stove and sat at the island in the centre of the table, Philip and Jason following. “Alex, will you come down Babe.” He yelled and heard the voice of his husband shout back.

“I’ll be there in just a minute, save my plate.”  
“Alexander!”  
“Okay, okay!” He shouted followed by the sound of footsteps padding down the carpeted stairs and he entered. “Oh, hey Jason!” Alex sat down next to his son, ruffling this hair. ”hey pip.” Philip’s hair began to frizz slightly and he quickly spat into his hand, trying to smooth it back down again much to the disgust of John. 

Jason smiled as he noticed the resemblance between his best friend and his Dad. The way their freckles covered their whole body, how their ears stuck out slightly too much and how their dark hazel eyes had a ring of green in the centre.

“So Jason, why are you here?” Alex asked, taking a sip of the coffee he had brought down with him, only to have John instantly remove it from his hands and pour it down the sink.

“Look, you know who my Dad is right?”  
“Yes” Philip replied, speaking for his family.  
“Well, he’s gay and suddenly everything has changed. My mum has a boyfriend, and he tries to take my Dad’s place, and just when I think I can get away from him, I go to my Dads and his Boyfriend tried to take my Mum’s place.”

“Okay sweetie, it’s alright!” John said quietly as he put his hand on Jason’s arm as he began to cry again. “So do you like their new boyfriends?”

Jason wiped his face as he spoke through his tears, well Mendel, my mums boyfriend, he fine but a bit odd- he tries too hard. Whizzer, I really like him, he makes my Dad a better person, but I don’t think it’s a permanent arrangement.”

Alex cocked an eyebrow,” why do you think that?”

“He gets real antsy when you call him my dads ‘boyfriend’ and I’ve overheard him and my Dad argue about how whizzers ‘fucking other guys’ excuse my language.”

They sat and talked for hours until it was dark outside and Jason realised that he should get home. He hugged John and Alex, the parental figures making it difficult for him to hold back his tears. Philip walked him to the door, and he meant through Jason’s open car window as he revved the engine. 

“Get home safe man.” Philip said.  
“I will.” Jason smiled brightly at his best friend “- also, you should stop straightening your hair, it looks cute when it’s curly.” 

“What, like a birds nest?” Philip laughed.

“No-“ Jason was serious as he said it “- gorgeous.”

Jason does off into the horizon leaving Philip blushing at the complement and feeling slightly dizzy inside.


	10. Chapter 10: the quiet before the storm

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This isn't long, but this is probs my fave chapter. It was originally longer, but I decided I wanted to split it up because ✨CLIFFHANGER✨

There is always quiet before a storm, a stillness where you know something bad will happen, a tenseness in the air. The humidity causing everyone to get snappy and sweaty, hair frizzing out of control. But everyone savours the heat one final time before stepping into their home? After stubbing out their final cigarette, or as they feel the rush of air from the the subway as the train speeds off again.

It had almost been a month since Marvin was shot and he could walk almost normally around people. He had an annoying scar on his foot that matched the one on his stomach, but the purple Ian red was beginning to turn into a softer pink, the jagged edges smoothing down and tightening. As they lay in bed, Whizzer would often trace his injuries, asking for war stories, and sometimes, just sometimes, Marvin would feel safe enough to relive them. He did not know how, but every time Whizzer touched a fleck of a white scar from a piece of shrapnel still lodged inside him, he felt it glow and tighten as though it was disappearing, only to feel it ache again as he stopped.

They spent all day in bed sometimes and the day it changed was spent the same way, Marvin leaning on Whizzers chest his pacer slightly digging in, although Whizzer never really minded. Whizzer had begun to mindlessly dug his fingers onto one of the sharp points of its points of its box, when Marvin finally asked him the question that had bugged him for a while.

“Whizzer?” 

He hummed in response.

“Do you think my-“ he gestured to his chest where the pacer was “- thing is weird?”

Whizzer thought for a second, trying to come up with an eloquent way to word it. “No, I think it’s powerful and I think it humanises you.” He quickly drew his hand away as a tiny bead of blood formed on his fingertip, and he sucked at it. After sex whizzer became very philosophical and artistic, becoming inspired to follow his true passion. Portraiture. 

“Alright Marv- stay there.” Whizzer got up, crawling to the end of the bed. 

“Are you gonna draw me like one of your French girls?” Marvin asked, a cocky grin on his face.

Whizzer stopped dead in his tracks, watching Marvin, “did you just quote titanic without me even forcing you to watch it!”

“Yeah baby! It was good, but that selfish bitch rose definitely had enough space on that door for baby Leo!”

“Jesus, I lov-“ suddenly Whizzers mouth went dry and he floundered for a second “- I love to fuck.” He finished. “Give me a minute.” He ran out of the room to the living room, rooting through his coat pocket until he found his pack of cigarettes, even though he knew Marvin hated them, and shakily lit one, trying to find his sketchbook.

He had not uttered those three words since… he shivered as he thought back to the day and tried to calm his shaky breath, back pressed to the wall next to the door of Marvin’s bedroom. He slowed his breathing, shoving his feelings down and plastered a smile on his face, bouncing back into the room. “Now you better sit still!”

They sat in the silence, whizzer letting the cigarette burn down in his mouth as his eyebrows furrowed in concentration. Marvin just lay in bed, staring at Whizzer as he worked, realising it was probably a good time to bring up him being shot.

“Hey Whizz?”

Whizzer hummed again without looking up, cringing as he questioned whether Marvin would ask him about the ‘L word’ almost being said.

“I’ve got something to tell you and you can’t freak out, alright?” Whizzer peered over his A3 sketchbook, fear In his eyes.

“What?” His voice sounded both puzzled and terrified as if he was scared of knowing the answer to his question.

Marvin quickly took a deep breath in, holding it in as he spoke, “I kind of got shot a month ago and my psychiatrist told me I should probably tell you…” he changed his expression into a playful smile, “but you look fucking gorgeous when you’re naked.”

Whizzer breathed out heavily. “How?”

“People robbing a bank, I decided to be a hero.”

“No, I did not mean ‘how you got it’, I meant how could you be so fucking stupid!”

“I’ve already been shot before baby, it’s not a big deal, also it was only my foot, people have literally shot themselves in the foot!”

Whizzer crawled up the bed to sit next to Marvin, “ why didn’t you tell me?” He asked, taking Marvin’s hands in his own.

“I didn’t want you to worry.”

Whizzer pulled Marvin into a hug, ignoring how they clashed together, “Marv, it’s my job to worry!”

“Whizzer, I think. I want to tell you-“ he took a deep breath and gripped whizzers shoulders, staring into his eyes, “- I… I lov-“

Whizzers phone rang and they both turned to stare at it on the bedside table. “Can you put a pin in that Marv?” Marvin let him go and Whizzer picked up the phone, “hello, this is Whizzer Brown.” He smiled in pure and simple joy at Marvin, lightly brushing over his facial features with his finger. “Excuse me?” His smile dropped and Marvin suddenly felt something extremely wrong, “she’s dead?” His phone dropped into his lap as he stared into the distance. His lip trembled and his eyes burned as he tried to keep the tears at bay. 

“Baby, baby- what’s wrong?” Marvin asked, still hearing the noise from the other end of the line. He picked the phone up as he held Whizzer, sobbing into his neck, “hello, this is his employer, what happened?” 

“Sorry sir, but Mr Brown needs to pick up his child.”


	11. Chapter 11: AbbieJean

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And this is where it gets good. 😈😈 Also I’m so bad at choosing names so this chapter is lowkey inspired by Archer (if you haven’t watched then you should, it’s hilarious) I just love writing chapters where everything’s revealed if you catch my drift

“Wait! So what happened?” Cordelia asked, pouring Marvin another vodka Martini, using the frozen glasses she only used for serious occasions.

“Turns our my boyfriend was married, they drifted apart or something, and a couple days ago she died in a car crash!” He took a sip of his drink and put down the glass, “more vodka please, anyway he gets a call after we have this really nice day and finds out she’s dead! He drops the phone, I pick it up and the operator tells me that’s he needs to pick up his child!”

“Holy shit!” Cordelia exclaimed ,sitting opposite him with her own dry martini, “and?”

“So I have to tell Whizzer he needs to pick up his child, he stares at me, and with a hoarse voice and bloodless face whispered, “i have a child?”

“Oh my god.” Cordelia whispered, “keep going.”

“So he took his car and he with his daughter now!” He downed the rest of the drink, “will you hand me the vodka?”

Cordelia handed Marvin the bottle and he started to pour it straight into the glass, giving up and drinking it from the bottle. 

“Jesus. That must be so difficult for the kid.”

Marvin spluttered slightly, “I just- how am I meant to talk to Whizzer about this? How am I meant to comfort him?” He threw his head into his hands, and let out an over reacting groan. “What do I do?” His words were beginning to slur and all his movements were exaggerated. 

“Maybe slow down on the day drinking for starters Marvin.” She pried the bottle out of his grip and put it in the cupboards behind her, “what’s worrying you most?”

Marvin scrunched his forehead, “he has a kid!”

“You have a kid!-“ Cordelia interjected, almost rolling her eyes. 

Marvin began to mutter things under his breath, slowly spiralling until he was hyperventilating. Cordelia calmly pulled her arm back and slapped him hard on the cheek, the slap leaving a hard red, stinging mark. 

“Oh my god! What was that for?” Marvin yelled, clutching his face. 

“When Charlotte spirals she asks me to slap her, also I needed to snap you the fuck out of this!” Cordelia exclaimed “your boyfriend- who you were about to tell you loved for the first time, which is ridiculous by the way considering you’ve been together for what? Ten months, nine months? Has had his ex wife die and found out he has a daughter in the same day. So you need to shut the fuck up and a stand by his side!” 

Marvin nodded aggressively, “yeah! Yeah!” He stared into Cordelia’s eyes, she smiled comfortably and suddenly Marvin’s lip quivered and he began to cry, blocking his tear ducts with his thumb and pointer finger. 

“Okay, whats going on now?” Cordelia said as she moved to sit next to him. 

“I… I just realised that I know nothing about him. I love him so much but I don’t know who he is.” His face scrunched up into one that looked like a cute puppy, “I mean, I’ve never met any of his friends, his family or anyone! He never even mentioned a wife.” 

Cordelia took his face in her hands and wiped his tears away, “just talk to him honey, if you open up- he will as well.”

-

He knocked on the door, hearing footsteps inside as the clock of the lock turned and the door opened.

“Marvin, what are you doing here?” Whizzer whispered, his eyes were red and he looked as though he had not slept in days, “how do you know where I live?”

“Hey Whiz, how are you?”  
“Not great, just got the kid to sleep.”  
“Can I come in?”

Whizzer nodded silently and Marvin followed him into the single room loft, covered all in white, practically nothing of personality. It looked like a preset home in Ikea. In the corner of the room was a queen sized bed, a child curled up on it. Whizzer walked to the kitchen and pulled out a bottle of Gin, pouring himself a glass, downing it before pouring another. 

“What’s her name?” Marvin asked, staring at the sleeping girl. 

“AbbieJean. She’s Jason’s age.” whizzer swallowed. 

“Whizzer have you slept at all?”

Whizzer sniffled and began to cry, “no, not in three days.”

Marvin stroked his arm and lead him to the sofa, sitting down and patting his lap. Whizzer lay down, resting his bean on Marvin’s lap, a wet patch growing on Marvin’s jeans from his tears. Marvin tried to do what Cordelia told him to do, stroking whizzer tears away and fiddling with his hair, focusing on how his breath began to even out as he fell asleep.

-

Jason lay on his bed, bored out of his mind. He flipped onto his side, reaching for his phone and called Philip. 

“Hey Babe.”  
“Sup Pip, what are you doin’?”  
“I’m ‘boutta go on a date.”  
“Oooh, who Is it?”  
“Georges, he’s the son of some of my parents friends.”  
“Jefferson?”  
“Nah, Lafayette and Hercules.”  
“I thought you and Theodosia were a thing?”

“Theo and I fuck on the reg, she’s not really into monogamy, so I’m good to go out with people.”

“Well have fun getting laid.”

He hung up and put the phone down again, tapping his stomach as he stared up at the ceiling. The phone buzzed again on his nightstand and he picked it up, not even checking the contact in his boredom. Being grounded sucked. 

“Yellow” he snapped down it.

“Hey kid.”

Jason sat up as he heard his dads voice, “hi Dad? Why are you calling me?” He asked, puzzled.

Marvin’s voice was quiet as he spoke, “Jason, I called to tell you that I love you, and I’m so proud of you” 

Jason’s eyebrows knitted together, “ I love you too-“ tears prickled in his eyes, “- but why are you phoning to tell me that?”

Marvin sighed, “because life can be grim and things rarely go according to plan.” He said, a grimace in his voice. 

“You’re not killing yourself, are you?” Jason shouted urgently down the phone.

Marvin smiled slightly as he stared down at a finally at peace Whizzer, “no, but I had a wake up call today.” He smiled, “remember that even when I’m being a dick, or working- I love you.”

“I love you too, Dad.”

-

With a start, Whizzer woke up with a snort, blinking slowly as the several previous days swirled back into his memory. He put his hand to his head as the dull ache came back, slowly sitting up. He looked over to his bed, neck hurting from how weirdly he had slept, and had a heart attack when he saw it empty. 

“AbbieJean?” He asked in a panicked tone. 

“Hey baby.” He turned to see Marvin standing behind the counter and AbbieJean eating pancakes, and he sighed in relief, getting up to walk to it. 

“Hey Marv, hi AbbieJean, how are you doing today?” She shrugged, signing something to Marvin who signed back automatically as he spoke. Whizzer kissed Marvin’s cheek as he picked up a plate. “You are just full of surprises, how the fuck did you make these?”

“I’m a genius, playboy, millionaire. Of course I can cook a simple plate of pancakes.” AbbieJean snorted, sighing again and Marvin out his finger to his lips shushing her. 

“You googled it didn’t you.”  
“And burnt the first four.” Marvin laughed.   
“I didn’t know you knew ASL.”

Marvin nodded, “one of my friends in the army went deaf after a massive explosion burst his eardrums, so I learnt ASL. More syrup AbbieJean?” She nodded and Marvin smothered them in maple syrup. 

Whizzer sat down next to AbbieJean, watching her try not to cry, he did not know how to treat her. Like his daughter? Like his friend? Like a child? He had never really wanted children until he met Jason, the intelligent, funny kid. He never wanted to deal with the obscene amount of body fluids and boundless sleepless nights, but he had skipped that stage with her. “Marv, will you give us a second?”

Marvin nodded and left to go to the bathroom.

“AJ, are you really alright?” He asked. She nodded her head firmly, but suddenly she burst into tears, shaking her head as she ugly cried. Whizzer hugged her but she tensed up, not used to it. “I’m sorry!” He exclaimed, quickly letting go of her and going to the coffee table and grabbing a notebook and pen. He watched her write quickly, admiring the neatness of her handwriting. 

‘My mom calls called me that.’

“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry. Should I call you AbbieJean?”

‘No I don’t mind, it just stings’

“I’m gonna buy some ASL books after I go food shopping. You can write me a list of things you like and while I’m out you can unpack, or invite someone over or sleep, or do whatever teenager do.”

AJ nodded, a grateful smile on her face, ‘marvin’s nice!’ She wrote down.

A cute passionate look crossed Whizzers face, “I know. He’s not my boyfriend really, I mean, I almost told him I loved him three days ago, but he’s my boss and I’ve got other guys who fuck me still.” He clapped a hand over his mouth as he said it. “I’m sorry, should I watch my language around you or…”

‘No, it’s okay’

Suddenly they heard the flush of a toilet and Marvin exited. “Marvin, I’m going grocery shopping, will you come with me ?” Marvin nodded and followed Whizzer. The door shut behind Marvin as he waited outside for Whizzer, putting on sunglasses and a baseball hat. They walked down the busy street, Marvin tailing slightly behind Whizzer as they made their way to the underground. The day was bitterly cold, and they could see their breath hanging In the air as they spoke. 

“Whizzer, we’ve been together for ten months, yet I know nothing about you. I know you may not be ready to open up-“ they turned and began to walk down the stairs to the warmer interior of the underground “- but when you’re ready…”

“I knew I’d have to tell you at some point, I just didn’t think it would be so soon.” Whizzer interrupted. He hopped over the stall, Marvin quickly following as they blended into the he crowd. “So what do you want to know? It’s only fair” Whizzers voice seemed to be detached from his emotions as though he did not want to relive his past in detail. They waited at the busy station, the warm air being pumped through the long tunnel. 

“So you were married.” Marvin began.

“So were you.” Marvin cleared his throat and raised his eyebrows causing whizzer to sigh. “I grew up in Omaha Nebraska, real churchy, second youngest of five. I always knew I was gay, but I couldn’t exactly come out, my whole family knew inside, but people who are close to you are blind to what they don’t want to see. I didn’t really have any relationships, people at school would talk, people would tell my parents. So I just didn’t really have that time to explore healthily. One day I met this middle aged guy at this art class I went to outside of school. He began to drive me home from the class and somehow we started to date. He’s the only man I’ve ever dated. I was sixteen at the beginning, and it was fun, he took me to nice restaurants, bought me stuff, introduced me to his friends as his boyfriend. For a couple of months, I was happy-“ 

the train pulled up and Marvin onto his hat, as the squealing echoed through the tunnel and the hot air hit them. They waited a second for people to get off and got on, holding on a pole as the train accelerated. Whizzer continued his story.

“- you always hear stories of people not being able to get out of relationships, but you never think you’ll ever be in that situation. I thought I was smarter than those people, that if I wanted to, I could leave. I tried, I really did. He was making me feel trapped, so I told him I wanted us to break up because I felt the secrecy was destroying my family, that my grades were dropping. He hit me. He slapped my face, hard, but I stayed with him as he cried in my lap, begging me to stay, crying, saying he was sorry. I don’t know why, it disgusted me, but still I stayed. After a couple hundred times, it got old. You asked me once where I got the scars on my back, it from one time where he threw a beer bottle at me when I tried to leave. He threatened to tell everyone I knew, sat in his car outside of my house day in day out. When I was nineteen I left for the Rhode Island School of Design without telling him. One of the first people I met there was a girl called Lana, I was so put off by men that we got together, I loved her, I really did. she was my best friend. We got hitched in Vegas for fun and stayed together through art school, afterwards we split apart, staying married to remind us that there was always someone out there who loved us. She came from a broken family, didn’t talk about it much. Lana went abroad and I stayed in New York. About 18 years ago she came back and we… spent the night together, and I guess she got pregnant. Haven’t dated anyone since, that’s why I get jumpy when you call me your ‘boyfriend’.”

Marvin was slightly taken aback and the train slowed to a stop. They both got off, following the stream of people rushing up the stairs. “Wow, that makes so much sense. I’m so sorry Whizzer.” They jumped over the stalls again, walking out of the station onto the chilly road again. 

Whizzer shrugged, “yeah, I guess i didn’t really realise how bad it was until I went to a psychiatrist about it. You want to know anything else?”

“I feel like an actual dick.” Marvin stayed plainly as they entered the large grocery shop, Whizzer grabbing a trolley. “I invaded your home which you obviously don’t like people in and now I’m praying for details in your personal life…”

Whizzer stopped suddenly, turning to look at Marvin, “we’ve been fucking each other for nine months-“

“-ten month.” Marvin interrupted

Whizzer ignored him. “-and yet I’ve been lying to you for most of that. Anyway, sometimes it feels kinda nice to share, I’ve had this burden for years, I’ve practically told no one about him. I trust you Marvin.”

“At least let me pick up the bill.”  
“Half.”  
“Alright, but technically I’m paying all of it.”  
“How?”

A cocky grin graced Marvin’s face, “because I’m your boss.”

Whizzer threw his head back and laughed for the first time in days as they strutted down the aisles of food, trying to remember to buy more than usual. 

“Your apartment’s…”  
“Shitty.”  
“I was gonna say ‘sleek’ but I guess for an architect, it’s kind of… you know.”

“These last four days have probably been the longest I’ve been there.”

Marvin raised his eyebrow, “really?”

“I hate it. Reminds me of him.” Now that whizzer had opened up, he couldn’t seem to stop the things he had bottled up inside of him for years. 

“How?”

“I used to have to clean up after him if he had one of his rages. If it wasn’t spotless, he’d usually get angry. One time he gave punched me in the nose, and I got a nose bleed, he threatened to kill me if I didn’t clean the blood out of this white carpet. Well long story short, I couldn’t get it out and he took the bleach I was using and poured it onto my back, it irritated my skin but I couldn’t tell anyone.” Marvin gasped out loud in horror. “He also had this habit of bulk ordering cigarettes, he introduced them to me. I only smoke after sex, because he would give them to sixteen year old me after sex. Anyway, one day he gives me a shit tonne of money for a seventeen year old, and tells me to go down to this wholesale store and buy them. The shop manager wouldn’t let me because I looked my age and had no ID, I had a full on melt down in the shop. I drove back to him and told him, I begged for him not to hurt me , but he took his cigarette and dug it into my arm. “

He stopped as he reached the hygiene isle, getting several boxes of condoms, some lube, a box of tampons and a box of pads, putting them all in the trolley as Marvin gawked at his story. 

“Jesus.” 

Whizzer turned to the next aisle, pulling out his phone as he checked his shopping list, shrugging. 

“Are you really okay?” Marvin asked Whizzer as he aggressively shoved gum into the cart. 

“Yes. No. The sky always looks different when you’ve got someone you love up there.” He replied, fixing his hair in an attempt not to cry, “I learnt how to deal with death when my dad died.”

Marvin grabbed a four pack of beer and put it in the trolley “I always thought it was lucky growing up, no one close to me meant no one dying, but no grief also meant no love.” Whizzer nodded and kept walking, swallowing back his sadness that came in waves. “If you want to get out of your loft, you and AJ can come live with me, and before you say no, I mean that you can take the floor below the penthouse, it’s free and you can stay there, I own the whole building. It means you can be close to AJ and work!”

Whizzer stopped in his tracks and stared at Marvin, “you mean not really live with you, more like being- neighbours?”

“Neighbours who have sex, but i guess. Also I taught Jason ASL when he was little, he may be rusty, but hopefully he and AJ could be friends?”

A cute smile fell over Whizzer’s face and he began to nod, “yeah, yes- oh my god yes!” He leapt into Marvin’s arms, peppering his face with kisses. “Thank you so much!”

“Well look who it is.” The couple turned, whizzer clutching at Marvin’s chest to see Trina. 

“You know Trina, no matter how hard I try, I just cannot seem to get away from you.” Marvin retorted.

“Hey Mom, can we get this… oh, Hey dad, hey Whizzer!”

“Hey kid!” Whizzer smiled at Jason, yawning as he waved.

“Wow whizzer, have you had any sleep?” Jason pointed out, seeing the huge bags underneath his eyes. Before whizzer had a chance to answer, Trina butted in. 

“So, you two were too busy having sex to look after your son.”

“Well actually…” Marvin glanced over to Whizzer who shrugged.

“No, you know what, this is exactly like when we were married. Never spending time with your son because you were cheating on me. Don’t look at me like that, I always knew I just thought it was a woman-“ 

“-actually” whizzer interrupted.  
“-no! Whizzer you knew you were breaking up MY family, you sat opposite Jason at meal times and gave Marvin sly looks when I ask you what you had done that day!” A crowd was beginning to stare at them, and Trina dropped her voice to a hiss. “You were fucking my husband.” 

Marvin interrupted “hold up Trina-“ 

“He was fucking me!” Whizzer said pointedly.

“-can you stop fighting in public!” Jason hissed over the overlapping voices. 

“No!-“ Marvin yelled “- you literally left me on my own to deal with my PTSD, I was struggling and get you slept in a different room to me because-“

“- because I can’t sleep with a light on!”

“You seemed to be able to sleep just fine after knocking back three glasses of wine and a handful of sleeping pills. Apparently sleeping is difficult when you’ve only been spending MY money all day. That’s the only reason you stayed with me, an extra 5 million dollars each year after 10!”

Trina’s mouth opened to argue, eyebrows raised, “oh, I’m sorry, I think I deserve that money after cooking, cleaning and quitting my god damn job for you. Oh wait- I didn’t even mention you being emotionally distant!”

“I’m so fucking sorry-“ Marvin interrupted sarcastically “- just because-“

“-you never had a family, yadah, yadah, yadah.” All three men stared at Trina, disbelief in their eyes, “ooh sorry, a bit insensitive of me.” She said, rolling her eyes.

“Look Trina-“ whizzer started.  
“-no whizzer, what was the excuse this time for not having Jason this weekend end, huh?”

“My wife died.” Whizzer finally butted in. “I had to pick up my daughter from the hospital.”

“Oh shit!” Jason said, receiving a smack on the head from Trina who had a guilty look on her face, “you were married?”

“Yep-“ whizzer said swallowing the lump in his throat and the flush on his face. “- but kid, never get married to a woman if you’re gay.” 

All three adults sighed, “never works out.” They repeated in unison. 

-

“Why didn’t you answer my texts?” Philip yelled at Jason as he opened the front door. 

Jason made a weird face at Philip, “what, I was out grocery shopping with my mama, then I did my nightly rounds, saved a puppy who got lost, the usual.” He walked into the kitchen, grabbing a pack of chips. “Also you straightened your hair.” Jason pouted playfully.

“I know you were out grocery shopping!” Philip yelled.

Jason turned around to face him, “I’m sorry, what?”

Philip pulled out his phone showing Jason his twitter. The top hashtag trending was attached to a photo of Marvin, Whizzer, Trina and Jason at the grocery store, blurry but recognisable. Jason took his phone, scrolling through photo upon photo, reading quotes from their argument, “what, how did this happen?”

“I don’t know, but your Dad called a press conference since everyone knows he’s gay.”

“I- how am I meant to go to school! People are going to recognise me- ” Philip stoke his phone back as a crazed look crossed Jason’s face, “- shit Shit shit!”

“Umm Jason… I don’t think you’ll be going back to school…” Philip pulled up a news article on his phone, handing it back to Jason who let out a shriek. “Some girl from our school ID’d you.” The next words Philip said made Jason feel nauseous.

“Everyone knows you’re the secret Feldman son.”


	12. Chapter 12: this is how you make a marriage proposal

“No, nooo…” Philip pounced on Jason who covered his head with a pillow, “I don’t wanna go!” Philip straddled him, wrestling his pillow out of his arms. “How’d you even get in here?” Jason whined.

Victoriously, Philip hoisted the pillow above his head and threw it across the room, restraining Jason’s splayed arms. “Your Mum let me in.” He smiled, a strand of his long curly hair falling into Jason’s face. “You’ve gotta come to school, don’t worry, it won’t be THAT bad!”

Jason blushed at the closeness of his best friends face to his, “what if everyone’s talking about me?”

Philip slowly sat up, taking his hands away from Jason’s hands which he held above his head. “Don’t worry Babe, I’ll be next to you the whole time.” He winked. 

Suddenly Jason grabbed Philip’s shirt, pulling him down so their noses were touching and a glossy look crossed his eyes. 

“Jason, what’re you doin’?” Philips tone was playful , but his eyes kept flitting down to Jason’s lips, holding his breath slightly. 

“Counting your freckles.”  
“Get up. Stop procrastinating, you are going to school.” Philip giggled, getting off of Jason and going to the door.

“Hey pip.”  
“What?” He spun around to face a shirtless Jason, eyes gravitating to all six of his abs 

“Your hair looks fucking gorgeous!”

Philip left quickly to avoid Jason noticing his blush and almost fell down the stairs in his daze, sitting at the dining room table. “Oh hi Mrs… ms… miss Feldman!” He said as Trina bustled into the room, rummaging through her handbag.

“Why hello Philip, otherwise known as the only one of my son’s friends I’ve ever met.” She said, laughter in her voice. 

“You look like you’re glowing, what has changed in yo life? I need to get me some of that!” Philip asked, smiling at her happiness. 

She sat next to him, sparkling in joy, “well, I’m in love!”

“Me too, baby-“ he looked at her and realised his mistake, “-ma’am. Not like he likes me back though!”

She patted his arm sympathetically, “well then, don’t waste your time on him. I was married for eighteen years to someone who never loved me .” Philip sighed, grabbing an apple from the basket in the centre of the table, “how did you get into my house Philip?”

He smiled sheepishly, taking a set of keys out of his pocket and jiggling them up and down, “made myself a set of keys!”

“Jesus-“  
“Alright, how’my lookin’?” Jason interrupted, running down the stairs. He stood on the landing, throwing various poses to model his clothes.

“Are we going for invisible, because you’ve certainly nailed that.” Philip said, staring at his all black sweatpants and hoodie combo up and down. “Babe-“ Trina’s eyebrows leapt into her hair in shock, “- everyone will be staring at you anyway, you may as well be wearing something nice.”

Trina coughed, staring intensely at Jason,”babe?”

“Nickname-“ he faced Philip again “-what do you suggest I wear? I’m so bad at fucking fashion!” He exclaimed, irritated.

“Language Jason! You’ve been spending too much time around you fucking father.” She muttered under her breath. 

“Okayyy-“ Philip said, turning back to Jason “- I would suggest nothing-“ Jason stared wide eyed at him “- but you have that really nice white t-shirt that’s kinda see through.” 

“What is up with you and my abs?” Philip only shrugged in reply and Jason ran upstairs to change. 

“Oh my God. You’re into my son, and he’s absolutely clueless!” Trina whisper shouted once he was out of ear shot.

Philips freckles became extremely pronounced as he blushed bright red, “what!? No way Miss F!”

“-okay! This any better?” Jason asked  
“Change the pants to your pink cargo pants.”

He rolled his eyes, running back up the stairs again.

“Okay honey, but everyone can see the way you look at him.” Trina pointed out. 

“-alright. Is this it?” Jason asked again, this time back pack flung over his shoulder along with the pink pants. 

“Tuck in the shirt and you’ll look fucking dope!” Philip exclaimed quickly getting up to get ready to leave, “alright. We’re gonna want to leave now.”

“What! It’s only a five minute drive?”  
“We’re walking- press and shits been camped out for days.” Jason sighed, realising Philips point.

They walked in silence most of the way, Philip sneaking glances at Jason and Jason flooding with nerves. He sped up with each and every footstep, his converse compressing the light sprinkling of snow. He shivered at how cold he was, he had only a light jacket on over his outfit and his lanky figure was not doing him any favours. The closer to school they got, the more nervous he got, he skipped a week of school, but his mum insisted that he had to go back, his Dad being forced to back her up. Philip has given him day to day updates on how much people were talking about him, how long the press had been boycotting the school and if everyone knew about it. Sadly they all did. As they reached the block, they saw van upon van taking up all of the parking spaces, logos form various news stations on them.

"you ready?" philip asked, pulling jason back around the corner, a stern look plastering his face. 

"nope." Jason sighed grimly in reply, picking up his posture, looking straight ahead and marching forward, ignoring the paparazzi that quickly closed around him, the bright flashes of the camera causing his eyesight to go spotty as he tried to shove his way through. He was overwhelmed by the amount of people, beginning to panic as he became disoriented, not sure which direction he was meant to go by the numerous cameras and microphones being shoved into his face. He tried to paint a neutral, bored look on his face, but the small glint of fear in his eyes were all the vultures needed to continue to intimidate him. The noise was almost too much for Jason as he searched through the pack to find the school. He couldn’t focus, The numerous questions being screamed at him confusing him. 

Then he felt something warm wrap around his pinky finger, looking down he saw Philips hand in his and smiled as their eyes met. A tiny amount of calm washed over him as he fought the reporters, rushing until he finally made it inside.

He tried to calm down as he strutted through the corridors to his locker, ignoring all of the whispers and stares. He felt the rage boil up inside him as he saw her, letting go of Philips hand.

“It was you! After you promised!”

Zoe swallowed, moving out of Jason’s way as he aggressively slammed open his locker door, “I came around to your house to explain, but they wouldn’t let me in.” She stammered. 

Jason breathed heavily, dropping his head into his locker,” you don’t get it. I had to be hounded by the paparazzi, Everyone knows who I am! My literal worst nightmare came true!” He sighed, trying not to get too angry at her- he didn’t want to become his father. “Why?” He hissed.

Zoe bit her lip, chewing on it nervously,” they offered me money, a lot of money.” 

“Why the hell do you need money?”

“College-“ her tone became icy and she picked her bag up “-not all of us are loaded like you!” She stormed off, leaving Jason’s heart breaking at how his delusion of who she were was shattered by the truth.

He felt every bodies eyes on him, everywhere he went and almost did his victory dance when he got called to the reception, praying that he was going to be sent home for some random shit. Instead, he was surprised when he saw a girl with kinky hair, so dark that it was almost blue. As she saw him stare, she quickly wiped her eyes, smoothing out her hair. 

“Ahh, Jason Feldm-“ the teacher quickly cut himself off as he saw the look of irritants on Jason’s face. “Jason, can you tour this girl? Her name is AbbieJean and she’s …” he lowered his voice to a whisper “mute. You were specifically requested by her parents.”

“Yeah, sure. But you don’t have to lower your voice when you say ‘mute’ it’s not an insult unless you make it one.”

The teacher was left speechless as Jason led AbbieJean out of the room to the corridor. 

‘Do I recognise you from somewhere?’ She signed, concentrating as she tried to place his face. 

“My Dad’s Marvin Feldman-“ Jason began, reluctantly.

‘Oh, He’s one of Whizz- my dad’s Fuck buddies!’

“Wait, you’re whizzers daughter?” She nodded, uncomfortable at her new title, “oh shit, I’m so sorry for your loss.” He exclaimed.

‘It’s okay, just gotta keep busy.’ She signed awkwardly, making a face , ‘so, what’s there to do around here?’ She smiled.

-

Mendel sighed, nervously fiddling with his suit jacket pocket. For the first time in a while, he had dressed up nicely, taming his curly hair. He puffed his chest out as he stared at himself in the full length mirror in his loft, smoothing down his jacket from the shoulders down until he felt the lump in his pocket. 

He palmed the small velvet box, bringing it up to his face and opening it. His tiny faced stared back from the sharply cut diamond on the ring, and he took a deep breath, getting down on one knee and uttering the words, “trina, will you marry me?” He shook his head and tried again, “will you marry me?” He breathed out heavily and closed the box with a satisfying click, replacing it in his pocket, deciding to make up a speech on the spot. How badly could that go? He took one last look at his reflection before getting enough confidence to sprint out of the door into his car. 

-

“Hey Mum, I’m home and I brought Philip and a new friend!” He quickly pulled AbbieJean through to the kitchen, excited for his mom to meet her. Philip sliding next to him with his socks in the polished wood floors. “Mom?”

He stopped dead in his tracks, Philip floundering as they all saw Trina sat on a stool, mendel down on one knee on the floor, holding up a ring.

“Yes!” She exclaimed, pulling Mendel into a long lingering kiss, Jason’s jaw dropping to the floor. They broke the kiss, staring into each other’s eyes as Trina squealed, pulling the ring onto her finger, admiring how it sparkles in the light. 

“Congrats Mrs F. or what should I call you now?” Philip exclaimed cheering for her.

“Well Philip, I think it’s Mrs W!” She said, a cheesy grin covering her face as she peeled her eyes off of the diamond, “Jason, are you alright?”

It didn’t take a genius to tell that he was not. His eyes were glassy and a ghost of his previous smile was still trailing his lips as his posture gradually crumpled. He stared at the couple, seeing how tight his Mum gripped Mendel and the love in his eyes before picking himself back up to his full height. 

“Yeah mom, I’m so happy for you.” He replied, smiling, but it was the dead eyes that gave it away as he slowly trailed to his bedroom, AbbieJean and Philip following as they heard Trina and Mendel’s giggles, the pop of a cork and their happiness, bubbling through the house.

“Jason, are you sure you’re okay?” Philip asked, watching him aggressively slam his door closed behind them.

“Yeah.” He opened a trap door in the ceiling, “you guys wanna sit on the roof?” He asked.

“Whatever you want to do.” Philip replied 

AbbieJean smiled, ‘yeah, I haven’t really been outside for three weeks.’ She signed, ‘I don’t know if it’s your thing, but I brought some pot brownies too.’


	13. Chapter 13: dear lawd what has Whizzer got himself Into

“So Marvin,” Marvin knitted his eyebrows together at how good of a mood Mendel was in. “You are officially out of the closet! How are you feeling about it?”

“How well do you think I’m doing? I was practically outed, my son is being stalked by paparazzi, my boyfriend found out he has a daughter-”

“-can we backtrack a second?” Mendel interrupted “Whizzer has a daughter?”

“Long story, but yes.”  
“And he said yes to moving in with you?”  
“Yeah, he-“ Marvin stopped mid sentence, eyes narrowing “- I never told you that!”

A tight lipped smile came over Mendel’s face and he stared down at his paper, “I just assumed, you told me you were starting to be more serious with him. I also saw that you were officially dating on the news.” He lied. Truthfully, Trina had called him after Jason and told her the news, complaining to him for almost an hour over the phone. “Alright let’s start unpacking that actually.” He said quickly to change the subject, “how do you feel in large crowds?”

Marvin, not fully convinced by Mendel’s lie, began to talk. “I have a rational amount of fear.”

“Of what?” 

“I don’t mind the people staring but I get terrified that someone’s concealing a weapon.” 

“Okay, that is normal for a veteran with PTSD, is that your only fear?

Marvin sighed “Sometimes if there are too many flashes of light I feel myself slipping back there- that’s usually why I end the conferences.”

Mendel started to write something down on his note book, “well that’s easier to deal with. If you even feel an attack coming on, I want you to focus on your breathing. Create a pattern that feels comfortable to you, maybe in for four, hold for four, out for four. Then I need you to ground yourself. Got it?”

Marvin nodded, “I think so. How would you suggest I ground myself?”

“Ah, now that’s a bit more tricky, only you can tell me how you are able to do it. Let’s say you’re in a press conference and you start to feel signs that you’re slipping. Focus on something in the room of in your imagination that you know will make you feel better. for example, Whizzer, or Jason.”

“ Thanks Doc, I think I can do that.”  
“Alright Marvin, how is Jason dealing with all of this change?”

Marvin lay back down on the couch In Mendel’s office, staring up at the high ceiling. “Jason is handling everything better than I expected, he hasn’t had a full meltdown like he usually does, which means there will be one soon.”

“I mean, he was obviously distressed about the divorce…”

Marvin made a face, “you’ve never met my son, you don’t know him like I do. He hasn’t had a major reaction to meeting Trina and my new partners, or living in separate houses, or Whizzer moving in. It’s only a matter of time before he breaks, I can tell you that.”

Mendel cringed, changing the subject. “What about his school life, how’s that been treating him?”

“First couple of weeks he was hounded by press,” Marvin sighed heavily,” sometimes I hear him crying in his bedroom, but I don’t really know what to do about it.”

“Maybe just give him a hug?” Mendel suggested.

“Maybe I’ll try it. He’s stayed at mine for about two weeks now, he says it’s for AJ, whizzers daughter, but Trina texted me, something about her boyfriend moving in? I ignore her texts.”

Mendel cringed slightly, knowing Marvin would soon find out about him and Trina’s engagement, “are his friends treating him differently?”

“He hasn’t been out with them, Philip and AJ come over, he’s really taken a liking to her.”

“Alright-“ Mendel said, checking his watch “-that’s about our time, any last things you want to discuss?”

Marvin sat up, swinging his legs around so he was facing Mendel, “ I’m going to tell Whizzer I love him, because I do, so much, and I almost already did.” Marvin stood up and went to shake Mendel’s hand before leaving the large office, booking another appointment with his secretary. He was about to leave when he almost bumped into his ex wife who was opening the large bronze doors. 

“Hello Marvin.”  
“Trina.”

There was a moment of silence between the pair of them, then suddenly they spoke at the same time. 

“You go” Marvin said.  
“No, you.” Trina insisted 

Marvin shrugged, “I think we’re both adults, so we need to stop bickering like children.”

Trina nodded, a tight lipped smile spread over her thin lips, “I’m happy for you and Whizzer.” She said, although her tone was slightly too cold for Marvin’s liking.

“And I for you.” Marvin returned, his tone mimicking here. He waved rigidly as she walked away, confused to see two boxes of homemade food rather than one. He texted his driver, and in less than a minute, he was opening the door for Marvin, asking him where he wanted to be driven. “I want a ride to Feldman industries.” He commanded, quickly dialling another number, holding it on speaker phone as he rapidly went through his emails.

“Hey boss.”  
“Luke, cancel all my meetings today.”  
“But sir-“  
“And maybe-“  
“- the ambassador for the Chinese embassy is already here!”

Marvin stopped typing for a second, “he wasn’t scheduled.”

“No sir.”

“Alright, tell him I’m not there, give him a tour of the building and get him takeout from Café China, it’s got the…”

“The only Michelin star for a Chinese restaurant in New York, I know.”

Marvin hung up and began to frantically answer his emails, making a mental note to create world wide free WiFi as he did. He stopped typing and smiled as he saw a cute selfie Whizzer had sent him, the caption reading ‘i know you’re stressing out right now. STOP!’ And he decided to take Whizzers advice, actually reading through the emails instead of scanning over them.

-

There was one thing Marvin loved more than anything about being iron man. Being free of himself having to script every word before it let this mouth. Oh, and flying. 

He hovered a couple of miles away from his home before turning off his invisibility filter, slowly flying down to the street below. He flew along them, racing cabs and waving at little kids, stopping every now and again to help someone. Then he heard the distinct yell of his partner. 

“Hey spidey!”

Spiderman leapt from the web he was holding, limbs flailing through the air before he landed on his feet, a look of shock on his face that he made the landing, before falling , face first onto the sidewalk. 

“Stupid iron deficiency.” He groaned into the hard tiles as he sat up. “Hey man, how you doin’” spiderman pointed finger guns at Ironman as though he was Joey from friends and Iron man laughed.

“Kid, you weren’t even alive when that show was made!” He grabbed Spider-Man’s arm and pulled him up, “that reminds me, aren’t you meant to be in school?”

Spiderman shifted slightly, scratching the back of his neck , “kids were giving me a bit of grief so I bunked.”

Iron man hovered slightly, chuckling to himself, “yeah, I’d cut off my left arm before going back to high school.” He quickly sped off, turning around as he flew, “last one to the MOMA pays for weed next week.” And in an instant, spiderman was following him, yelling about the unfair head start.

By the time they reached the gallery, Ironman was out of breath, spiderman easily beating him. “Shit, I really need to start working out more!” He exclaimed as he tried to catch his breath. He used to be jacked, his physical health needed to be high to pass the army training and tests, but his dad bod had definitely intensified after he had Jason. Eating the baby food if he left it, needing more than one beer to get him to sleep. It didn’t help that he now had almost constant surveillance over him, so he gave up going in runs and had taken to going to the gym, often wondering if his body with its stretch marks and impurities was good enough for the sex god that was Whizzer Brown.

“Why did you hate high school?” Spiderman asked.

Iron man smiled slightly at the bitterness of the memories. “It wasn’t great, grew up in a dodgy area without a family. Always had my head in a book, bullies and shit like that. It’s better now that I’m basically guaranteed to be more successful than all of them combined, and I have a family.” He sat down next to spiderman, ”what’s going on with you at school?”

“Something happened and everyone’s treating me differently.” He replied, picking at the tiny flowers growing in the cracks of the stone wall.

“Don’t worry kid.” Iron man replied, putting his arm on Spider-Man’s shoulder, “it’ll pass, they forget stuff in less than a week.” On the road below he saw a man in a ski mask waving a gun in the air, “you ready?” he asked, flying into the air.

“You bet da- man!” He exclaimed, face flushing after he almost called iron Man dad, and leapt to the street below.

-

Whizzer took a deep breath in as he walked towards the front door, gravel cracking underfoot as he felt it under the thin layer of snow. He was nervous, unsure why as he pressed the doorbell. It was instantly opened, she was waiting for him. 

“Whizzer.”  
“Trina.” He greeted.

“Come in.” She instantly opened her home to him, even though she seemed mean and icy in public, in private she was sweet to him. “It’s nice to see you Whizzer.”

“It is?”

She took him to the kitchen table, stirring the food on the hob, “yes it is. I do like you Whizzer, you’re sweet and you’re good for Marvin, I just hate what you did to my family. In the long run though, it’s changed my life for the better.”

He sat down feeling guilty, “I never got the chance to apologise, but I’m sorry, I really am.”

Trina banged three side of the pan with the wooden spoon before putting it on the white marble countertop,” it’s alright, I’d rather it be you than me.” Whizzer understood instantly what she meant, hating himself for loving someone like Marvin, “I was only angry because I realised that Marvin would never want me, whoever I tried to be would never be enough.” She smiled in a bittersweet way,” I blamed you when I really should’ve blamed my dick of an ex husband. Hopefully this time it’ll be better.” She added.

“Sorry?”

“Mendel proposed to me!” She exclaimed, a toothy beam lighting up her face as she showed whizzer the ring.

“Wow Trina, congratulations! This is gorgeous!” He gushed.

“I know! Actually , it’s why you’re here.” She sat opposite him, a now serious look on her face,” I think you should tell Marvin.”

“Look Trina, I’m really appreciative that you like me again, but I don’t think that I should get involved with this.”

Trina got up, going to the calendar that hung on the wall, taking out a wedding invitation from the pocket, “here, he’s invited and I’m sure you’ll be his plus one!”

“Trina, you’re not listening to me. You need to tell him.”

“I can’t.” Her voice was firm, but she kept rubbing her arm in a nervous fashion. Whizzer sat there for a moment, arms crossed looking at the invitation. 

Suddenly he saw himself in Trina, scared to tell Marvin for fear of what he would do. 

“Fine.” He whispered, quickly pocketing it, “but I can’t guarantee him being there” 

Trina smiled at him, “thank you. In some world we could have been good friends.”

“In some world.” Whizzer nodded. 

He left half and hour later, not knowing how he could ever tell Marvin the Trina had moved on for good, that she didn’t need him, that she was surviving, no thriving without him. He made dinner in a daze, Marvin kissing his cheek and squeezing his ass as he came to smell it, but Whizzer was lost in his own world. He watched AJ and Jason do work together in the window in front of him’s reflection, understanding a couple of her signs here and there. He now could comprehend why Jason was staying with Marvin, understanding how difficult it must be for the kid to see his mum and dad already moving on, being stuck in the middle.

Whizzer laid out the four plates on the table and sat in silence as Jason and AJ described their days. He didn’t eat anything. Suddenly whizzer was struck by how domestic everything felt, the man he loved opposite, their two children telling stories- he quickly got up, speed walking to the bathroom.

He began to dry heave into the toilet, although having not eating in four days made it painful, his throat felt scratchy and dry and his mouth burnt to the taste. He had to get out. He tried to fix himself up in the large mirror, but his face was dripping with sweat, so he rooted through Marvin’s cabinets, looking for pills, any pills that could take the edge off. At the back of the medicine drawer was a bottle full of pills prescribed to Trina. Meds for a panic attack. He took two from his shaking hand, putting his mouth up to the tap to wash them down. As he waited for them to kick in, he pulled up his sweater, frowning at his loss of muscle and prominence of ribs. “Whizzer, You are not a child anymore.” He said sternly to his reflection, “he is not here telling you that you’re fat, you love Marvin and because of that, you’re going to eat.”

He left the bathroom like nothing had happened, managing to keep down half of his plate of food before going downstairs, telling Marvin he was too tired to spend the night together. 

Marvin smiled and nodded to Whizzers face, but instantly checked which pills Whizzer had taken. 

He had been listening by the door the whole time, scared of what whizzer might do.


	14. Chapter 14: “I can’t do this.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well I freaking love this chapter, especially the end.
> 
> Trigger warnings do apply, I don’t want to spoil anything, but they are here, I’ll do a lil summary at the end of you didn’t read it.

Marvin didn’t enjoy his empty bed, sweating as he woke up, moving his limbs, out stretching them to try and find Whizzer. He only found the imprint of Whizzers body, hugging the pillow to his chest, inhaling Whizzers scent. Marvin didn’t enjoy his empty bed. He didn’t enjoy the chill of the sheets without his lovers warm body pressed against his. He especially didn’t enjoy the quiet, or not sleeping through the whole night. He sat up, knowing fully well he wouldn’t be able to get to sleep again, so got up, checking on Jason through his cracked open door. He sighed as he saw Jason asleep at his desk, pencil still in hand. Marvin waded through the piles of clothes on the floor, coaxing Jason to his bed and tucking him in like he did when he was a toddler. He sat on the edge of the bed, watching him fall back to sleep. As Jason’s breaths calmed, he got up to leave, but felt his arm being grabbed by his sons, fumbling for it in the darkness.

“Promise me you won’t let her do it.” He mumbled, obviously sleep talking. 

“Who?”

“Mum.” He whispered before collapsing back into bed. 

Marvin slowly pried his hand away form Jason and left, quietly closing the door behind him. He brushed his teeth and took his painkillers, still only wearing his boxers as he went down to his office. The elevator opened and he saw Whizzer sitting at his desk.

“Hey?” 

Whizzer looked up from his hands as he dropped his pencil, “oh, hi. Couldn’t sleep.” He hated to admit it but he couldn’t really sleep without Marvin either. It was Cliché and he had always scoffed when people told him they couldn’t sleep without their significant other, but now he got it. And now he hated it. 

“Me too.” Marvin walked through the office, pressing a kiss on Whizzers cheek that made his stomach churn. “I’m going to be in my office.”

Whizzer hummed slightly under his breath, but focused on his work. Marvin walked past him to his office, quickly closing the door behind him as he went to the keypad, opening the secret room. He fiddled with the suit for a couple of minutes, screwing some of the metal plates in place. 

“THEA, open the windows.” He asked the room, slowly stepping into the suit as the ceiling high windows started to contract as they opened. He hovered above the stand before flying into the freezing early morning air, enjoying his alone time. 

The bitter air made the outside of the suit glaze over with a light frost as he flew above the city, watching the brilliant glow of the early Christmas lights hanging off of the high streets lights. He fell down to the street as he noticed the green lights flickering in a dark alley a block away, and landed silently, peeking around the corner. “THEA-“ he whispered “-engage hearing.” 

Suddenly his hearing enhanced and he stumbled slightly as he heard the scratching of mice on the back wall of the alley, added to the mix of many other noises, here and far. Iron man closed his eyes as he tried to concentrate on the voices, wincing at how loud the sounds were, picking out the odd word.

“New weapons… boss… spiderman.”

He turned off the hearing mode as a bright flash resounded off of the walls, quickly blocking the light with his palm, the gauntlet shielding his whole face. In an instant, the light disappeared and he quickly tried to focus on the figures, hardly visible against the dark, moody backdrop. The three figures had been reduced to two as the third faded into dust. Iron man gasped loudly, quickly clapping a hand over his mouth as he swung around the wall, pressing his back against it hard as he heard a mans voice yell out. 

“Who’s there?” 

The static electric sound of an engine whirring of the weapon the man was holding started up as iron man held his breath, hearing the footsteps get closer and closer. The light flashed past him as a little black cat stared at him with his large, green eyes glowing in the dark, then it disintegrated into the wind as iron man just watched, breathing heavily into his hand, shaking. 

“Don’t worry, it was just a cat.” The man muttered and Marvin froze at how close he was, shakily taking his hand away from his mouth as he took a fighting stance. He took a deep breath in, holding it for four before exhaling slowly, and leapt around the corner.

-

“Ow… ow, ow!” 

“If you stop moving it won’t hurt!” Charlotte exclaimed as she stitched up Marvin’s eyebrow, cordelia running in and out trying to get marvin to try her latest baking fiasco, to which he politely declined each time. “How did it even get under the helmet?” She asked, concentrating on her needlework.

“Part of the eye piece shattered.” Marvin replied, “I just can’t seem to get the materials right on the Suit!”

Charlotte sighed, wiping away blood that had crusted on Marvin’s eyelid, “well I need you to sort it out soon!” She added, placing tape over the stitches, “I can’t keep taking medical supplies for the hospital.” She took a step back, removing her rubber gloves in the sink, “alright I’m done.”

Marvin got up, staring at himself in the mirror, prodding the new slit in his eyebrow whilst wincing, “what should I tell Whizzer?”

“The truth?” Cordelia replied as she came into the kind a pile of folded clothes in her outstretched arms, “you should be glad you’re short hon, you’re the same size as me!”

Marvin started at her, “I think I’m gonna go with, ‘I walked into a door’ works every time.” Accepting Cordelia’s clothes in his arms. 

“You know Marvin-“ Charlotte replied as she washed her hands, back turned away from Marvin changing, “-your relationship would probably thrive if you just told him the truth maybe once in a while.”

“Hey!-“ Marvin exclaimed as he pulled up Cordelia’s surprisingly comfortable Mom jeans, fastening the thick belt tight “- I tell him mos- some things.” He stuttered. He pulled on the dark shirt with lemons on it, buttoning it up almost to the top as he had seen Cordelia do, tucking it in. 

“What’s your shoe size marv?” Cordelia yelled from the front hall. 

“I’m a ten and a half!” He yelled back. Cordelia stuck her head out, cocking one eyebrow and smirking. “Fine, I’m a nine and a half.” She popped back around the corner, entering again and threw a pair of White doc martins at him. 

“You can have these.” She said as they hit Marvin’s shins, a guttural sound of pain growling from the pit of his stomach, “not sure why, but my mum bought me a men’s pair and they’re too big.”

Charlotte dried her hands, checking her watch. “I can drive you home Marvin on the way to work.” She said, grabbing her scrubs and jacket from a laundry basket of washed clothes. 

“Thank you so much, the press will take photos, you may want to bring sunglasses or a hat.” Marvin replied, lacing up his new boots. 

“It’s fine. If we leave now I’ll be on time.” Charlotte added.

Marvin quickly got up, “oh, okay. Sorry, fine!”

He watched as Charlotte flurried through the apartment, grabbing this and that as she tried to pack up her purse, and slowly moved out of the kitchen into the front hall, waiting for her to finish. 

“Bye Cordelia, love you!” Charlotte yelled as she opened the front door, pushing Marvin out onto the stoop. 

“Excuse me?” Cordelia asked, a firm look on her face as she stood with oven gloves on in the kitchen doorway. 

Charlotte slowed down for a second, smiling as she approached Cordelia, and kissed her deeply, wrapping her arms around Cordelia’s waist. “I love you Delia.”

“I love you Lottie.” Cordelia replied with her gleaming smile. 

Marvin smiled at the sweet nicknames the couple had for each other and suddenly Charlotte was shooing him into her car again as the moment broke, quickly getting in after him. 

“What can I do to repay you Charlotte?” Marvin asked, placing the sphere of his iron man suit on his lap, shivering in the leather seat. “You’ve some so much for me recently, and I’ve done nothing in return.”

“You pay my rent!” Charlotte exclaimed   
“No. I mean for turning up at your house at five am or at eleven pm without warning you and forcing you to attend to me.” Marvin laughed, “ literally, name anything.”

Charlotte sighed, keeping her eyes on the road, “what happened to you Marv?” 

“What do you mean?” He asked, head snapping around to watch her. 

“You’ve changed.”

Charlotte didn’t elaborate so Marvin left it, sitting in silence the rest of the drive home to the large towering building. As they got to the glass double doors, they were surrounded by cameras, Marvin sighing as they were officially getting on his nerves. 

“Let’s have a double date. You and Whizzer can come to ours.”

“You sure?” Marvin asked.

Charlotte similes and suddenly she began to root through her black leather purse, handing him some sunglasses, “yep. You can keep the clothes, they suit you.”

Marvin leant over to hug Charlotte, distancing her ever so slightly from his pacer. “Stay safe Charlotte.” He replied, putting on the sunglasses and getting out of the car, posing ever so slightly as he smirked, knowing he looked good. The reporters parted as security swarmed around him, speedily escorting him inside to the lobby. He went straight to the elevator , it flying instantly to the penthouse. He stepped into the large room, seeing Whizzer at the table. 

“Hey baby.”

Whizzer looked up, taking a second glance, “holy shit Marv, you look amazing-“ he got up, unbuttoning the top buttons and fixing the whole outfit. “- granted you look like a lesbian, but a fucking hot lesbian.”

“Well that would make sense considering I was given them by a lesbian!” He smiled sweetly at Whizzer, “what are you doing up here?” He asked.

Whizzer took off his glasses, balancing them on his head, “I have a headache and it was too loud on the floor.” Whizzer gathered up his work, getting up and pulling Marvin into a passionate kiss, “I think I’m just gonna get back to work.” He smiled. 

“Oh, okay!” Marvin smiled, watching as Whizzer left, seeing the dark bags under Whizzers usually bright eyes. The doors closed and Marvin turned back to the dining table, creasing his forehead as he saw a leather jacket, a brown, expensive jacket that he had bought Whizzer as an apology for missing Valentine’s Day. He knew Whizzer hate it, but he would wear it any way, happy to smell Marvin’s scent that clung to it. Marvin picked it up, going to fold it the way Whizzer liked, but felt a large piece of card in the pocket. He turned to check if anyone was there, “hey THEA, turn off the cameras.” Then he slowly slid his hand into the jacket, pulling out the slightly bent piece of card. 

His heart fell into his stomach as he saw his name, hand lettered in beautiful scripture at the top, and everything else blurring and merging into the same words except for one. ‘Wedding’. He blinked several times, trying to read the names as though his eyes weren’t focusing, as though they were trying to prevent him from reading them. 

‘Mrs Trina and Dr Mendel Weisenbachfeld.’ 

-

Whizzers head was pounding so hard he couldn’t focus, each line he drew becoming less and less accurate until he gave up, holding his temples as he closed his eyes. He wasn’t sure how long he was asleep for but was woken up by Marvin storming through the work space, pointing at people he didn’t even know and yelling for them to leave. Whizzer got up quietly, yawning a little and adopted an innocent expression, standing behind Marvin, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder. He spun around an animalistic look in his eyes and whizzer took a step back, having never seen Marvin like this. 

“Hey Marv. Why don’t we get you some-“

“-get out, “ the words were bitter and stinging as Whizzer felt them flush his face, quiet and intimidating. He shook off the feeling.

“Look, I’m sure we-“ 

“I said get the fuck out!”

Whizzers eyes widened in pain before he became stone. He left silently as an act of defiance, nose above Marvin’s stupid games, and called an elevator, hoping he would be left alone to cry. His wish was not granted as the doors opened on Trina and Mendel, getting in and closing the doors quickly to obstruct Marvin’s view. 

“Did you tell him?” Trina asked hopefully.

“No, but he knows. Why are you here?” Whizzers stone facade made it easier for him to push back his emotions like he was used to doing. 

“He texted me.” They got out on Marvin’s floor standing around as they waited for him. 

Whizzer shook his head harshly, “this is not gonna be good-“

Before he had the chance to finish, the elevator opened and Marvin raged into the room, the group quickly dispersing. 

“Hello Trina, thank you for sending this-“ he waved the wedding invitation in her face, “-you know I was really worried that I wasn’t going to fucking get one!” He yelled sarcastically, Trina standing still and taking it, “my Psychiatrist! Out of the whole of this fucking continent, you chose to marry the dickwad that is the work shrink I’ve ever had!” He sucked in a quick breath in his rage. “I - I can’t believe she loves you!” He said, turning to Mendel, “she cannot love you!” He yelled in disbelief. Trina stood quietly, her hand finding Mendel’s and gripping it tight. “This- this is pseudo romantic and sick, you say you’ll love him until you both die, you’ll die on may twenty seventh at eight!” He shouted tearing the invitation into tiny squares of paper, flinging them at Trina’s face. He stood still, waiting for an explanation, hands digging into his hips. 

Whizzer cautiously took a step forward, seeing the subtle nod Trina gave him. “Marvin you need to calm down-“ 

“-she gave it to you.” Marvin interrupted, not breaking eye contact with Trina “she was too much of a coward to give it to me.”

“Because she knew you’d react like this!” Whizzer said, irritated at Marvin’s need to interrupt him. “You’re acting irrational and uncouth. Calm down.” He added firmly. 

Trina dropped Mendel’s hand and took a strong step forward, causing Marvin to falter and step back hesitantly. “Mendel is going to give me the wedding I wanted, mendel loves me the same amount that I love him, Mendel’s not a maniac.” She said, cocking her eyebrows to challenge Marvin. Mendel stepped forward to join her, taking her hand to show their union and she smiled, turning to look into his eyes, “and he’s sweet, and he’s warm-“ she turned back to Marvin “- and he’s everything you’re not.”

Marvin stood, sucking his tongue and nodding before bursting into manic laughter, “fuck you. What does he give you that I couldn’t! This was what you wanted!” He yelled, arms wide as he gestured around the penthouse. “You wanted this life, where your only troubles were who had the most expensive handbag, or if our helicopter driver was ill, how would you get to your yoga class!”

Trina shook her head, “that’s not what I wanted.” She stated plainly and quietly. 

“Well I didn’t see you yell out for help!” Marvin countered. 

Suddenly Trina matched his volume “because you didn’t notice!-“ she yelled, tears brimming up in her eyes and spilling over. She pulled up her sleeves and stuck her wrists out at Marvin. Whizzer leant over and without meaning to, gasped as he saw them. Thin horizontal scars along her arms, countless lines, too many. Whizzers stomach turned and he went pale as he saw the single vertical line on her left arm. “I was going to kill myself, but I heard Jason come home and I knew that if I left, he would have no one.” Trina wept as Mendel took her hand again “I’ve been happier in the last few months thank the entire seventeen years with you!”

“You just chose him to make me look bad, how could you ever deny what we had?” Marvin asked, not even caring about what she had said. 

Trina wiped her face and turned her attention to Whizzer, “has he started them yet?” She asked, sniffling. 

“Started what?”

“The fights and the games. Calling you stupid fucking names to make you forget your worth, conditioning you to become a housewife until you forget who you are and only know who you serve?” A look of recognition flickered across Whizzers face, “how many times have you made him dinner in his own home? How many times did he make you feel as though it was your idea?” 

Marvin took an aggressive stance in front of Trina and Mendel blocked him, pushing him away from her. “Marvin-“ Mendel started as Marvin tried to push him back “-I am so ashamed.” They began to argue.

“He’s sweet.” Whizzers voice cut through the rabble of insults being flung and everyone stared at him,” and you’re mean.” Marvin turned around watching Whizzer.

His voice was low and somber. “Don’t you get it Whizzer? They’re turning you against me!” Urgent.

“Did he ever get mad at you for the tiniest things, like beating him at a game of chess, or being earlier than him to the office?” Trina continued “did he lose it for no reason.”

“Fuck of Trina, you were only with me for the money, I had every god damn reason to get pissed at you!”

“See this-“ Trina pointed at Marvin, Mendel moving out of the way, “-this is the real Marvin. The petty, cold, abusive…”

“Try having no family Trina, see how you like it!”

“No marvin,” Trina was calm, infuriating Marvin “you’re broken like the rest of us, we just aren’t defined by it.”

“You see Whizzer-“ Marvin turned to him “- this is what she does! Pretends that you’re the reason her life is messed up!”

“He’s too much of a bitch to tell you he loves you. Isn’t that true!”

“She tried to kill himself for attention!”  
“He’s abusive.”  
“She’s sociopathic”  
“He’s a motherfucking whore.”

The insults continued until their faces were almost touching, spit flying, bright red faces, noses centimetres apart, teeth grinding, chomping at the bit to tear each other apart.

“Stop!” Whizzer yelled, and Marvin instantly turned to watch him, enchanted by his voice. “I can’t do this.”

Everything went foggy as though Marvin was underwater, certain words breaking through as he swayed on the spot, breathing jagged and uneven, Trina hurling insults to ears that didn’t listen. Mendel started at him, quickly noticing something wrong, “Marvin? Focus on your breathing, ground yourself.”

“I can’t do this.” Echoed through his mind, whizzer flickering in and out of his vision. “I can’t do this!”

“I can’t do this!” Charlotte yelled at him, the lifeless body lying between them, Marvin pumping his chest hard, counting the CPR compressions, “you can’t do this!” 

“I… can… just let me.” Marvin screamed back between inhales of air into the corpses lungs. “Come on… come on!”

“Marvin… Marvin. He’s dead!” Charlotte yelled, using her weight to pull Marvin off of him, but he clutched at the body, most of its ribs broken from the two hours of CPR. “Marvin, you have to let him go!”

Marvin finally let go, crying on his knees, arms wrapped around the body, “I love him. I love him.” He cried into its neck, tears pooling on the ground. 

Charlotte dropped next to him, letting herself cry with him, nuzzling her body into his. “I’m sorry,”

“We were in a fight.” Marvin wept, sitting up, “he told me I was too scared for us to be together. I never told him I loved him.” He made it to the end of his sentence and suddenly he was choking back sobs again. “I can’t do this.”

“Marvin-“ Charlotte wiped her eyes getting up “-we have to go.”

“I can’t leave him.” Marvin sobbed, “I can’t!”

“We won’t. There are recovery troops coming-“ 

“I love him.”

“I know.” Charlotte replied, trying to stand Marvin up, “we need to go.” 

“I can’t… I can’t do this. I can’t leave him!” Marvin pulled in the corpses collar shaking it as he tried to wake him up, “come on. Get up. Wake up. Wake up. WAKE UP!”

He pulled his arm back and slapped the corpse, suddenly waking as he heard Trina yelp. He was back, not yet comprehending what had happened until his eyes met Trina’s hand clasping her cheek.

“Baby, I’m so sorry.” He whispered as he took a step forward, hand cover his mouth in horror. Trina stumbled back, arm held out to shield herself from, and Whizzer flinched at his movement. 

“No…no.” She sobbed in a panicky tone as she ran into Mendel’s arms. Marvin’s haze drifted to the doors, Jason standing there, a look of shock on his face, school backpack at his feet. He finally looked at Whizzer, tears trailing down his face. 

Whizzer slowly faced the room, walking to the kitchen table and picking up his brown leather jacket. He kissed marvin’s cheek, “ I love you but I can’t be with you while you’re like this.” He said, and as Marvin put his arm out to stop him, Whizzer flinched hard. Marvin just stared, heart still pounding from his attack, and Whizzer left, whispering in Trina’s ear, before he trailed to the elevator, giving Jason a tearful smile. 

Trina, Mendel and Jason followed, heads bowed, hearts breaking as the door opened for the four of them. 

“Mendel-“ Marvin blurted our, regret flooding his every motion “-I need your help.” he finally admitted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Summary:
> 
> Marvin can’t sleep without whizzer, so he goes out as Iron man. Finds some random bad guys. We cut to Marvin at Charlotte and Cordelia’s because of some minor injuries and Cordelia lends him some clothes. 
> 
> Charlotte drives him home and he finds whizzer in the penthouse, whizzer leaves and Marvin folds whizzers jacket, finding the wedding invitation. 
> 
> Marvin, Trina, Whizzer and Mendel get involved in a huge argument about them getting married and Trina reveals that she tried to commit suicide. They continue to argue and Whizzer says something leading to Marvin having a PTSD attack, he remembers how he held the dead body of one of his lovers, trying to wake him up and slaps him. At that moment he wakes up and realised that he has hit Trina, causing Whizzer to break up with him.


	15. chapter 15: The Mary Jane Incident

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This part makes me sad, I don't like this version of Marvin, but I think we have to do this. Any ways, today is my first day of 6th form, I've got 2 hours of maths later and I may die. BUT IT'S OKAY!!!

There were good days and there were bad days. In the beginning they were mostly bad. Marvin would just lay in motionless in bed, not sleeping, not eating, regretting everything he had done, promising he would do better and be better tomorrow, before drowning his sorrows until he would blackout. He would usually wake up to the smell of his own vomit and piss, leaving the dirty sheets for the maid to deal with.

That was the routine Monday to Thursdays. Friday mornings he would get up, eating mouldy takeout or left over pizza, and would scour the rooms for for beer and liquor bottles, locking the remainder into a cabinet so he wouldn’t be tempted. He hadn’t breathed in fresh air for weeks, and if it wasn’t for Jason, didn’t have any human contact. On Friday evenings he began the charade, trying to cook Jason dinner and engage with how school had been.

The sad part was, Jason believed it, believed that his Dad had moved on, had apologised and extended olive branches, and it only killed him when he had would visit Whizzer.

Whizzer too tried to pretend he was alright, but it was the tiny things that cracked the porcelain mask he wore. Him spilling tea and ending up surrounded in shattered mugs and glasses, shredding his fingers as he tried picking them up with his wobbling vision clouded with tears. Jason would catch him up late as he raided his Dad’s office for circuit boards and parts. He would be sitting at his desk, tears running down his face, pooling on his art and destroying the images, only to wipe them away and plaster on a smile as he went to greet Jason. Jason had noticed tiny, new habits Whizzer was forming, like signing sometimes instead of speaking, or when he was anxious, writing Marvin’s name over and over in ASL subconsciously, his hands moving at lightning speed as he spelt each letter over and over again.

Then Sunday evenings would come, and Jason would leave as per Marvin and Trina’s original agreement, unknowingly giving Marvin the all clear to continue slowly killing himself.

Then there were the better days, the days when he got out of bed, did ‘work’. He would tell everyone that it was work, instead it was a string of handsomely paid prostitutes, male escorts, anyone who would make him feel something. He was often too intoxicated to remember any of it, but one night he knew it was time to be better.

Friday afternoons he would meet with Mendel, trying to control his PTSD attacks that had become even more frequent after the breakup, lying to him about what he had got done that week. Sometimes during those sessions, he would go back to specific moments he wanted to forget, going too deep, the past hurting and overwhelming him until he was a cowering ball in the corner of the room, shaking as Mendel tried to calm him down. Usually he would be able to hold off of the drinking, waiting to see his son. But one day he relived it, his visions of his lovers death and hitting Trina merging into one singular moment and all the progress he had made vanished, disappearing instantly as he emptied liquor shelves at the closest gas station, driving home as fast as he could so he could drain the bottles dry. Lukewarm beer, cheapest vodkas, mixing them with opioids and painkillers, ordering the most expensive hooker he could find. She showed up at the penthouse, a strong Chicago accent, an expensive black dress, five-inch heels so sharp she could cut Marvin with them, the only things he could remember about her as the bottle of whatever he was holding sloshed over her. He vomited on the floor as she scoffed at how much of a lightweight, he was and he became apologetic, trying to pat down her dress with a kitchen towel, getting slightly too handsy as she told him that she had it.

“look mister, I’ve got it” she said as she forcefully ripped the fabric out of his fumbling hands, “just let go of me”

But Marvin didn’t listen, aggressively trying to dry her dress as he patted her down, gripping her tight, fingers leaving bruises on her waist.

“sir, you’re hurting me.” She started to yell, pushing Marvin off, but he clutched her face with his hand, squeezing her cheeks until he could feel bone and kissed her hard, forcing himself onto her as she tried to prize his fingers open, real fear in her eyes,” Let me go!” she screamed between breaths and suddenly Marvin was on the floor.

Jason towered over him,” what the Fuck have you done!” he yelled at his Dad and his vision blinded with rage as he punched Marvin’s nose, tear forming in his eyes. He got up and kicked him over and over again in the stomach, Marvin coughing up blood as the prostitute tried to stop Jason until Marvin finally spoke, blood gargling his voice.

“Let him, it’s all my fault.”

His Dad’s voice snapped him out of his anger and Jason quickly cupped a hand over his mouth as he sobbed. Retching from the blood, Marvin tried to get out, spitting out a tooth as he hugged his son, “I’m so sorry Jason.” He began to cry too, doubling over in his pain as he vomited again, sobering up slightly and sinking to the floor, Jason joining him.

“I thought you were okay?” Jason cried into Marvin’s shirt, scrunching it into a ball in his fist.

“it hurts.” Marvin cried, tucking Jason under his chin, rocking his back and forth in his arms, “it hurts so much not to love him! I feel so numb all the time!” he couldn’t see anything through his tears, “I want to turn it off. I want to turn it off!” He started yelling frantically, words slurring as he unbuttoned his shirt, trying to turn his pacer off with shaky hands, Jason trying to stop him. “Fuck, it hurts so bad!” he gave up fighting as he coughed into his sleeve, ruining the expensive suit with blood.

“I’m sorry Dad.” Jason cried, blowing his nose on the shirt, “not for beating you up, you deserved that, but because of Whizzer.” Jason’s voice heightened and cracked slightly, “because I love him too.”

In that moment Marvin promised himself he would change, to be better, to do better for Jason, for Whizzer, for Trina and even for Mendel.

Out of the corner of Jason’s eye, he saw the Women go to leave and he quickly got up, leaving Marvin on the floor, “Look, I am so sorry about my Dad.” He whispered, wiping his bloodshot eyes and cradling his bruised knuckles. “how much does he owe you; I’ll pay double.”

“we didn’t do anything, but it was meant to be eleven thousand.” She stated in faux boredom.

“okay- “he went to the console table, taking out his Dad’s chequebook. “who should I make this out to?”

“Lexi.”

Jason looked up, “that’s not your real name.”

She sighed, tapping her heel impatiently. “Pollyanna Rhodes.” Jason nodded, handing her the cheque as she strutted out.

-

That was December and Marvin spent Hannukah alone, searching his entire apartment for any alcohol or drugs not prescribed by Mendel and binned them, flying over the Hudson and chucking them in the river, feeling a huge weight being lifted off of his shoulders. He got his act together, working on his newest inventions and built an office in the penthouse so he didn’t have to see Whizzer for a while, accepting that he needed space to get better. Marvin still couldn’t sleep, and since he had got sober, blacking out was not an option, so he got his assistant to steal a mint green shirt that belonged to Whizzer. Putting it on a pillow and hugged it at night, knowing it was unhealthy but still pretending he was still there, and for the most part, it worked. The city was relieved to have their superhero back, many online forums questioning what had happened to him for the previous couple of months.

Now it was April. Usually Marvin’s favourite time of year, he would walk under the cherry blossom trees in soho, a scarf to keep out the brisk spring air. But this year it was different this year he was alone, spending the depressive episodes that he sometimes had, watching dirty dancing, as he lay on the sofa, on repeat for hours, sometimes days on end. During these days, he would turn off all of gadgets, no distractions except a large box of tissues. That was why it was odd when he heard the landline ring, sitting up and staring at it as it seemed to get louder and more irritating. He stumbled to his feet, legs dead from not moving for hours, and limped to the phone.

“Hello?” His voice was croaky after having not spoken for days

“Hello, is this Mr Feldman?”

“yes?” he replied suspiciously, clearing his throat.

The voice at the end of the phone seemed relieved,” okay, this is Miss Morrison from the willow grove, your son has got himself in some trouble, so I would like you to come in for a meeting tonight at half past four.”

“look, I’m sorry miss… “

“-Morrison”

“But I am not feeling very well, so can we maybe postpone?”

“your ex-wife and everyone else have agreed to tonight.”

“alright, I guess I’ll be there then.’ He replied, confused as to who the ‘everybody’ else was that she was referring to.

“good. I’ll see you tonight.”

She hung up the phone and Marvin got dressed for the first time in three days, putting on shirt that he thought was quite fetching, but Whizzer would describe as utterly mortifying, feeling the pain in his chest as he remembered it.

-

Marvin had never been to Jason’s school before, he left choosing it to Trina, and got bad vibes as soon as he stepped through the door, blaming them on his own bad high school experience. He took a quick glance around the reception, catching the eyes of the receptionist and sidled over.

“hi there, I’m Mar- “

“Mr Feldman! I know exactly who you are, follow me!” she got up enthusiastically and led him down a corridor, Marvin glancing at her perky ass as he followed, “right through there!” she smiled brightly, Marvin nodding, feeling slightly nauseous from how happy she looked.

His eyes met Whizzers first and his throat went dry the same way it did when he first saw him…

Marvin stormed out of his office, “Where is Ted?” he shouted, “you know what I don’t care, he’s fired.” He said as he flailed his arms in the air, “Where the fuck is my new…” He turned back around and fell straight into a tall man’s chest, “… architect.” He finished as he prized himself out of the man’s arms who caught him.

“you okay?”

“…um…”

Marvin was surprised to see the most attractive man he had ever seen, his cheeks, flushed with anger, turned to embarrassment as he stood up straight, or at least as straight as a gay man could next to a god.

“umm…” the man mocked “I’m Whizzer Brown.”

Marvin’s mouth felt uncomfortably dry and his stomach began to bubble and fizz “the architect?” He stuttered.

“yes. The architect.” Whizzer Brown replied, cocking his eyebrow sassily.

“come with me.” Marvin said quietly, almost calm for a change as he led Whizzer to his office, his employees staring wide eyed at the effect that this man had on their boss. Marvin ushered Whizzer inside, turning as he went to close the door, seeing the staring faces as they saw the first ever person other than Marvin go into the office, “what are you staring at, get back to work!” and the spell was broken.

He held whizzers gaze for a moment.

“Mr Feldman, I’m Miss Morrison, we talked on the phone- “Marvin ripped his eyes away from Whizzer and took her hand, shaking it “-will you take a seat?”

He looked around the classroom, seeing Philip, Jason and Abbie Jean all looking sheepish whilst their parents sat in a line the row behind them. He shook off the surprise of seeing Whizzer and took a seat next to Trina. “do we know why we’re here?” he whispered into her ear; Trina shook her head.

“alright, there is no need for me to sugar-coat this- “the teacher began rummaging through her desk. She was tall, Rubenesque, long blonde hair that covered the side of her glasses, and an extremely nasal voice which caused Marvin to bite his lip to keep from laughing. Miss Morrison finally pulled out a little doggy bag out of the desk “- I caught your children smoking marijuana in the school toilets.”

“Jason Marvin Feldman!” Trina scolded, shooting an extremely pointed look at Marvin.

“why are you looking at me like that!?” Marvin asked, voice high pitched and defensive. Across the room his attention was attracted to Whizzer, mid conversation with Abbie Jean in the middle of a fast-paced conversation, fingers moving at incredibly rapid paces.

“look Mum, I’m sorry, it just calms me down and sometimes I need that.” Jason started before Trina leant forward and smacked the back of his head, “ow!”

“Jason, this stuff is bad for you!” Mendel started to explain, “your brain hasn’t fully developed yet, so it practically fries your brain cells!”

“leave the kid alone!” Marvin interrupted, leaning forward so he could see Mendel who was on the other side of Trina, “he’s a genius for crying out loud, even if he does lose some brain cells then he has plenty to spare!”

“yeah!” Jason piped in, “Whizzer never used to mind!”

He instantly cringed at his mistake as the whole of their tight knit family turned their attention to Whizzer and Abbie Jean who were high fiving.

“Whizzer Fucking Brown!” Trina yelled across the classroom. “you knew my child smoked… smoked MARY-J-WANA and you were fucking fabulously fine about it!”

Abbie Jean cupped a hand over her mouth as she laughed silently at the position Whizzer was in.

“I walked in on him one time and…”

“and you were okay with it?”

“well I told him he should hide it better from you guys, but yeah! I went to art school, for four years my diet was pot!”

Marvin sighed as Whizzer had a witty comeback for anything Trina threw at him, and it reminded him how much he had missed him. He spent the rest of the meeting daydreaming about Whizzer, the hurt he felt without him, the incomplete feeling. The way whizzer used to go down on him… cheeks hollowed, eyebrow cocked as though it wasn’t a challenge, lips bright red and puffy, his voice sexy and scratchy afterwards from how deep he would go. The way Whizzer looked when he rode him… head thrown back in a silent scream, toes clenching and curling, nails scratching at Marvin’s back. The way Whizzer looked when he was asleep beside him… peaceful, kind and young. No longer brash ad loud as he stood out from the rest of them, instead warm. Family.

“you are in big trouble when we get home young Man,” Trina scolded, her tone icy.

Jason laughed, “well sucks to be you because it’s a Friday, I’m staying at Dad’s! isn’t that right?” he asked, turning around to Marvin.

“muh huh.” Marvin hummed, eyes still fixed on Whizzer, cheeks red from imagining various scenarios.

“Marvin…MARVIN!” Trina shook Marvin back to the present, “you best ground his ass!”

Marvin couldn’t rip his eyes away from Whizzer “yeah, fine…”

“Marvin look at me.” She exclaimed, taking his face in his hands and physically turned him so he was facing her. It only took a glimpse, just a glimpse of that kind of humanity that Marvin never showed. Genuine sadness. Usually when he became sad, he would get angry, resort to insane things, but Trina could see it, just like the night he apologised.

It was snowing heavily and was dark, the wind howling, and Trina was surprised when she heard the knocker pound against the door. She swaddled herself in her dressing gown as she swung her legs down onto the floor, Mendel reaching for the bedside table, trying to turn on the light. She slipped her feet into the slippers on the floor, shuffling, half asleep, out of the room and down the stairs as the knocking continued. “I’m coming” she said, mid yawn as she furrowed her eyebrows at who it could be, opening the door slightly as she peaked around it.

“Marvin, what are you doing here?” she was too tired to be angry at him, opening the door as he staggered inside, an almost empty bottle of scotch her dad had bought them as an engagement gift in his shaking hands.

He stopped in the doorway, stumbling forward as he tried to steady himself on the frame, and suddenly he sank to his knees at her feet. “I’m sorry Trina, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to hit you, I didn’t mean to be a dick, I didn’t mean to fight with you and call you all those stupid, mean names… I… I- “he keeled over, vomiting on the floor as he scolded himself. “I’m so stupid, stupid Marvin, stupid!”

Trina hushed Marvin as she took pity on him, taking him upstairs to the guest bedroom, quietly giving him a shower as Mendel haunted the doorway, knowing he couldn’t get involved. Finally, Trina let Marvin lean and stumble on her as she took him to the spare bed, tucking him in like a child.

“I’m sorry Trina, I never wanted to love you, but I do.” He said quietly, he was almost sober at that point, patting the bed for her to sit next to him, he put his hand out and Trina took it gently. He softly pulled up her sleeve, lightly touching the scars as he furrowed his eyebrows, “I did this to you.”

“No, It’s my fault.” She said as she delicately pulled her arm away.

“No- “he said firmly as he held her hand, “all of this, everything was always my fault. I made you so miserable that you wanted to die. I wanted everything, and now- “he began to tear up, “-and now I have nothing. All I want is Whizzer, I miss him.”

Trina put her arm around him and hugged him, “shhhh… it’s okay, it’s okay.” Slowly and tentatively, Marvin hugged her back as Trina gently rubbed his back, and slowly, he relaxed. “let it out.” He hadn't been hugged in so long.

Marvin choked and sniffled, not able to calm down as he cried harder, the tears streaming down his face as they were joined with snot, crusting on Trina’s shoulder. He realised that he hadn’t properly cried about Whizzer since it happened, he had been sad, burying himself in booze and sex and drugs, but he hadn’t cried, and he needed to.

“I miss him.” Marvin choked out, mid sob.

Trina nodded “I know” she stroked his hair and Marvin cried harder.

Marvin didn’t know how long he cried for, but Trina stayed with him the whole time, Mendel glancing every now and again through the door to check on his fiancé, making sure Marvin wasn’t having another episode. Marvin lay on the bed, and Trina followed, taking the spot next to him, reaching her hand out and tangling it in his.

“are you going to talk to him?” Trina finally asked, breaking the silence.

Marvin didn’t reply, instead he turned onto his side, staring at her with his sad eyes, reaching his hand out to touch her face. “I love you.”

She smiled back at him “I love you too.” Marvin gently moved closer, and kissed her softly on the lips, a single kiss, and suddenly both of them had moved on and were finally at peace with each other.

Trina shook the memory out of her head, “Marvin, I see how you’ve been staring at Whizzer, maybe you should talk to him.” She let go of his face, and Marvin looked back over to Whizzer who had been gazing back, only to see Whizzer blush and instantly look away as their eyes met for a millisecond.

But Marvin just shook his head, a sad smile on his face.


	16. chapter 16: A spider's kiss

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> basically I love the last couple of paragraphs, they give me LIFE

Jason was woken up the same way he had been for almost a week, by his mother storming into his bedroom and pulling open the curtains. The early morning light forcing Jason to wince as he hid under his covers, Trina yanking them off of him as he grumbled, her showing no mercy. 

“get up!” she said, short tempered and firm.

“come on mom!” Jason moaned, “I’m suspended, can’t I just stay in bed?”

“you’re cleaning the house today.”

“what?!” Jason exclaimed as he finally sat up, rooting around for the duvet that he then noticed was still in Trina’s hands. 

“start in here.” She said, handing him a pair of bright yellow gloves, and pointing to the bucket and a mop at the foot of his bed. “it’s absolutely disgusting!” she said as she picked up a graphic t-shirt at arm’s length, taking a brief sniff and gagging. “you better have this done by the time I get home mister!” she went to leave.

“wait mom, where are you going?” He asked, getting out of bed, hopping on the still chilly wooden floors as Trina walked down the stairs, a spring in her step. Jason watched from the landing, hanging over the bannister. “mom?”

She smiled, stopping on the landing and clapping her hands together with an innocence and happiness he had never seen before, “I’m trying on wedding dresses, and this time I’m not pregnant, so I don’t have to try their ‘maternity line’!” she exclaimed, grabbing a long black coat, “also, Grandpa’s coming over later”

Jason winced slightly, “he is?” 

“yes, he is. He’s coming to meet Mendel, so you better be on your best behaviour kid.” She grabbed her keys from the table by the door, “now, clean!” she added, leaving out of the front door and pulling it closed behind her. 

For the first time since ‘the Mary jane incident’, as the three participates would later call it, Jason was finally alone in his house. He waited until he could hear his mum’s car pull out of the drive and quickly stripped into his boxers, connecting his phone to the speakers and dancing around the house like a mad man as ‘Valerie’ began to play loudly. Jason grabbed the vacuum cleaner and started to clean whilst dancing, singing to himself as he finished the front hall and moved on to the sitting room. He grabbed a can of wood polish and smiled as he sprayed it on the wooden coffee table, the smell bringing back memories from his childhood from before he realised that his family wasn’t happy. He basked in the feeling as he continued to clean around and as he moved back to the front hall, he finally heard the sound of knocking. He turned off the vacuum cleaner, making sure he was hearing it right and quickly ran to it, still only in his boxers. 

“How long have you been there?” Jason asked sheepishly

The FedEx driver scoffed slightly, “several minutes, but I could see you dancing through the window.” He said as he took a brief look at Jason’s very toned abs. “you need to sign for this-” He said as he glanced down at the clipboard he was carrying, cocking his eyebrow, “-Jason.”

“oh, I’m not expecting anything, you sure it says ‘Jason’?” Jason took the clipboard and read through it, signing his name at the bottom. The FedEx man went back to his van and picked up a thick envelope, handing it back over to Jason and saluted as he went back to his van, driving off. “he was definitely flirting with me.” Jason said to himself as he closed the door. 

He ripped open the envelope because, like all children, he hardly ever received mail and was very excited when he did. He fumbled as he tried opening the first folded piece of paper, squinting as he finally managed to read it. He gasped in delight as he found out he had won a youth programme art competition, quickly finding enclosed a voucher for one of the best art supply shops in New York City. He jumped up and down as he read the part about three of his art pieces being displayed in a gallery before being moved to the town hall, and suddenly stopped once he realised that he would have to complete three pieces in two weeks. 

Without thinking, he sprinted to his bedroom, checking through sketchpads and folders for ideas. He instantly chose two spray paint pieces, street art that he was ready to claim, political statements that he believed could help change the world. But the third was tricky, he searched for something else, something different in amongst the politics and the sketches, but found nothing. 

Suddenly it dawned on him. 

He quickly pulled on a pair of black baseball shorts and a new ski mask he had designed, black but with red patches over the eyes, a spiderlike web circling around his face, leaving off the T-shirt in the extremely warm day for mid-April. He did a dive roll out of his bedroom window, attaching his webbing onto a streetlight as he felt the weightlessness take a hold of him. There was something about being spiderman that made Jason feel happier and free to do what he liked, something he hadn’t felt before. Because of who he was, he always had to hold his tongue, keep his life guarded, not give anything away, but people didn’t care much about spiderman as long as he looked after them. 

The rush he felt as he flailed to the ground, saving himself a millisecond before he hit the pavements, the impressive speeds he could reach on foot and in the air, the strength he had, and the stickiness, although he didn’t really trust it enough to use it to walk on buildings just yet. But the main part he loved about being spiderman was helping people. He didn’t mind if it was helping an old person with their groceries, or catching a bicycle thief, or stopping a major terrorist plot to blow up his city. It was spiderman’s duty to help everyone, no matter how big or small their problem was. 

He stopped a block away from Feldman industries, making sure no one was watching before taking off his mask. He had begun to realise how stupid most people were, so didn’t bother changing his clothes drastically anymore. He sidled down the street and made it in through the door without much hassle, the paparazzi were dwindling as they realised that the life of Marvin and his family wasn’t actually that interesting, especially after not seeing Marvin for five months with his unexplainable absence. But still, as per usual, at least three or four reporters would stand watch outside as Jason entered the building. He quickly pressed the button to the penthouse and waited, tapping his foot on the ground as the elevator zoomed down to him. 

“Jason?” the elevator doors opened so he could see Whizzer, and he instantly smiled.

“Whizzer! It’s nice to see you” he exclaimed, “I actually came to speak with you.”

“nice to see you too kid!” Whizzer replied, quickly getting out of the elevator as people began to give him impatient stares. “but why are you shirtless?”

“I was going on a run from Mum’s” he lied, following Whizzer to the parking lot.

“that’s about ten miles!” Whizzer exclaimed,” let me give you a ride home, I was heading out anyway.” 

Jason didn’t reply, instead narrowing his eyes slightly, “where are you going?”

Whizzer quickly unlocked the car that was his, getting in, “the gym.” He replied as he threw his bag into the backseats, Jason getting in next to him. 

“but there’s a free gym in the building, why would you go out?” he retorted suspiciously.

Whizzer smiled smoothly, “This gym doesn’t have a racquetball court, I’m meeting a… a friend to play a match or two. More importantly, why aren’t you at school?”

“I’m still suspended” Jason muttered, scoffing under his breath.

“what? They let AJ back last week!” Whizzer said, pulling out of the carpark and down onto the main road, snaking out through the underground trail. 

“yeah, well they found more than weed in my backpack.”

Whizzer stopped the car, turning to Jason, “do you need any help, because I am always here for you if you need a break from your family.”

Jason smiled, shaking his head with a small smile on his face, “no, it’s not anything illegal.” He explained, “I’ve been having these panic attacks since people found out who I was, but I didn’t really want to see anyone about them. I found some of my Mum’s old pills at Dad’s-“ Whizzer nodded, knowing exactly which ones as he had taken some himself “- I just took a couple loose in my backpack in case of emergencies and they found them after the whole weed incident and I couldn’t prove they were what I said they were.” He sighed looking away, “I’ve been talking to Mendel about it, but in all honesty, he’s an absolutely shit psychiatrist.”

Whizzer chuckled at the last part, remembering all the times Marvin had come home complaining about their sessions, and suddenly stopped, trying to disassociate from the memory in pain. “so,” he asked, trying to change the subject, “what did you want to talk to me about?” He continued to drive again, taking the next turn as he remembered the way to Trina’s house.

“oh yeah! I won this big art competition!” Jason yelled in his excitement, “I was wondering if you wanted to come, it’s in two weeks.”

“wow Jason that’s incredible!” Whizzer exclaimed as he sped up, “but are you sure it’ll be alright with your Dad and all?” Whizzer winced as he obviously replayed the slap, trying hard not to let it phase him as much as it did.

Jason nodded as he remembered his Dad’s meltdown, “yeah, he bought a cat and he’s doing alright.” Whizzer nodded in return, keeping his eyes on the road and swallowing hard. “he misses you.”

Whizzer chuckled, a singular snort leaving his nose, “they always do.” He replied, a hint of melancholy in his voice, inside shouting ‘I miss him too.’

They sat in silence for a while, until Whizzer pulled into Trina’s driveway, and suddenly Jason knew exactly what he wanted to draw. “thanks Whizzer, I’ll send you the time and address!” he exclaimed as he waved through the open window, waiting for Whizzer to leave.

“I’m proud of you kid!” Whizzer replied as he slowly reversed the car, pulling out of the drive and honking his horn as he drove off. 

Jason tried to open the door, remembering that he didn’t have his keys, and quickly snaked up the drainpipe, climbing through his window and he got to work cleaning the rest of the house until he heard another car pull up. He quickly ran down the stairs as he heard knocking and opened the door.

“Jason, my boy!” the man took a glance down at Jason, “haven’t you filled out nicely!” he said, putting his hand out for a handshake.

“Grandpa, it’s nice to see you” Jason lied through his gritted teeth, shaking the man’s hand hard. “I thought you were coming with Mo- “that was when he saw the second car pull up. “-mom, well I’m going to go get dressed, I’ll be down in a moment.” He said, turning away and rolling his eyes hard.

“well- “Trina’s father began as he took a glance around at her new house, “-it’s a bit of a down grade.” He said as Trina went to join him, hugging him tight.

Trina smiled without her eyes, “No Dad, I prefer this one.” She replied, already knowing that his visit was not going to be good. “anyway, how are you?”

“what trouble has the boy got himself in this time? you told me he was going to be at school.” Her father interrupted like he always did, but Trina bit her tongue.

“oh, you know, ‘men will be men’” she said, taking a dig at her Father. Suddenly she heard a third car pull up and she was struck with both teeth clenching dread and happiness to see her fiancé. “Ah, speaking of men…”

Mendel smiled brightly as he met Trina at the front door, kissing her before putting his hand out to her Father, arm still around Trina. “Good afternoon sir- “he had somehow become extremely formal at Trina’s request, Jason noticing as he hovered at the bottom of the stairs. “I’m Dr Mendel Weisenbachfeld, your wonderful daughters’ fiancé.”

“Doctor?”  
“Psychology sir.”  
“so not a real doctor.” He scoffed and Mendel smiled politely, Trina gripping at his chest slightly too hard. 

“Right Dad, do you want to see the whole house?” Trina asked as she tried to distract him from ripping into Mendel.

“well, if it’s all in the same state as in here, then I don’t think so.” He replied smoothly as though he didn’t realise, he was offending the family. “show me to the living room.” Mendel smiled as he led Trina’s father to the room. 

Trina, following slightly behind before nudging Jason, “well done kiddo, I think your cleaning was awesome, now come on!” she said, a sympathetic smile on her face as he trundled behind her. 

“Well Trina- “Her father started as she entered the room with Jason, “- I prefer this one to the last one.” Trina smiled at Mendel, him giving her a subtle thumbs up, “Why did you divorce him?”

Trina put down a tray in front of her Father, handing him a cup of coffee, “I told you already Dad, he was gay.”

“oh. A Homo.” He spat the words as though they were bad food.

“sir, I don’t think you should say that- “Jason butted in, “it’s not politically correct.”  
“Boy, I can say whatever I like.”

“No, it’s offensive- “Jason sounded calm, but inside he was ready to assault his grandfather. “it’s twenty twenty man, my Dad is who he is, and you know what, that’s pretty fucking brave of him.”

“Jason, language!” Trina interrupted, wide eyed. 

“no, no- “her Father put a hand up to shush her and Trina instantly shut her mouth, shaking with anger. “I’m just glad I don’t have a homo kid, or grandchild.”

That was enough for Jason, so he politely smiled, breathing in deep, “it was nice to see you Grandpa, I’m going out.”

“Jason!” Trina had a warning edge to her voice, but Mendel quickly wrapped his arm around hers, silently communicating to her with his eyes. Jason was already gone, putting on his mask and baseball shorts as he swung at aggressive paces, trying to let go of his anger at the homophobic, old fashioned jerk that was his grandfather. The sun was beginning to set and without his shirt, he was beginning to feel cold, that was until he saw a man dressed all in black. He usually wouldn’t be bothered until he saw the man catcall numerous women, them ignoring him before he began to follow them. 

This made Jason mad, watching from his vantage point on the top of a streetlamp, spider like position, crouching on his ankles, ready to pounce. He saw it all happen in slow motion, he watched the man reach out for a women’s hair and he swooped, leaping onto the man and pinning him to the pavement as the woman stopped, turning in confusion.

“hello ma’am.” Jason said as he knelt down hard on the man’s neck, cutting off the blood supply, “would you like this man to apologise to you for catcalling?” he asked as he took the back of the man’s hair in his hands, moving off of his neck and onto his back as he pulled his head up to face the woman. It was phrased as a question but was meant as an order as he continued to apply more and more pressure from his kneecap. 

The woman took several steps forward until she was standing by the man’s head, wearing needle thin black heels and tilted his chin up with the tip of the shoe. Instead, the man spat at her, “dirty whore, don’t you realise that it’s a fuckin’ complement!”

“would you like me to take care of this or you?” Jason asked, seeing how the woman had begun pulling up her sleeves.

“I can handle this myself kid.” She replied as Jason let the man go, instantly receiving a punch to the jaw, Jason hearing the bone crunch as he saluted, and swung through the air again. He didn’t head in any specific direction, but he just knew that he had to stay out of the house for as long as he could to cool off. 

Somehow, for the second time that day, he found himself near Feldman industries, looping around the building. Suddenly he noticed the hair, distinctive hair attached to a person who scurried around a corner into a nearby alley. Jason watched, an almost evil smirk on his face as he climbed the building, doglike on his hands and feet. He quickly attached a thread to the fire escape and slowly but silently dropped down, upside down, careful not to let Philip see him. He let the thread go a little bit at a time until he was at about eye height with Philip’s back, and quickly tapped him on the shoulder, yanking himself upwards out of his view. Philip turned, extremely startled, and Jason got a glance at a cigarette hanging out of his mouth, shocking him somewhat, he never knew his best friend smoked. He dropped down again, and tapped on his shoulder, this time staying upside down as Philip took a large leap backwards, hitting the wall with his head. 

“JESUS FUCKING CHRIST ON A FRUIT LOOP!” he yelled, finally comprehending that it was Jason and not a serial killer, “holy shit dude, you scared me.” He rubbed the spot on his head where he hit the wall.

Jason giggled at the fright he had given Philip “what are you doing around here pip?” he finally managed to ask through his tears. 

“I... I ummm…” 

Jason took the cigarette from his lips and threw it to the side. “As your best friend, I feel obliged to tell you that smoking kills.” He narrowed his eyes, his voice muffled from the ski mask, “why are you smoking pip, are you alright?” he pulled his mask up over his lips to stop the weird noise.

“mhhh… oh, yeah.” Philip was easily distracted. He found it particularly difficult to concentrate when he could see Jason’s six pack, which was one of the reasons he was crushing hard on him. “I was just nervous, I left you a letter, well actually I left it with your Dad…” he explained, stammering slightly, “but I didn’t expect to see you.”

“dude, why would you leave me a letter when you could post it?” Jason asked, slightly scornful. 

“well, it was important, and I didn’t want it to get lost,” he explained, “oh yeah, also your mail gets searched for bombs and stuff, I didn’t exactly want anyone other than you reading it.” He murmured.

“my mail gets searched?”  
“for a genius, you are super fuckin’ dumb.” Philip replied, a small smile on his face.

“wait a sec, why only me?” Jason asked, as what Philip said caught up with him. 

“I… ummm… this is why I wrote a letter!” Philip exclaimed, flapping his arms in the air nervously, “I’m so much better at scripting my words, okay… umm… Jason you know you’ve… been my best friend forever and… shit, this isn’t working.” He said to himself.

“what?!” now it was Jason’s turn to panic, “wait, I thought we were good?”  
“no, we are, but- “  
“-why did you say we weren’t?”  
“I didn’t mean- “  
“-but you’re literally my only friend!”  
“oh, fuck this!” Philip replied, interrupting Jason. 

He quickly took the boys head in his hands and the breath was knocked out of Jason with the force their lips collided, Jason still hanging upside down, Philips hands gripping and clawing their way into his hair as Jason’s hand found its way under Philips shirt after a brief moment of hesitation, feeling the warmth of his skin. They pulled apart as they stared into each other’s eyes for a second, Philips palm pressing against Jason’s masked cheek, fiddling the rough wool under his fingertips, the whole world colliding then disappearing all together in one brief moment. 

Then the pair heard a click of a camera lens, both whipping their heads around as more photos were taken. 

Tears suddenly streamed down Philip’s face, “holy shit, why did I do that?” He sobbed as he ran out of the alley, covering his face as the paparazzi followed with their cameras. 

Jason just hung from the fire escape, reaching a finger out to touch his lips as he waited, stunned.


	17. chapter 17: Philip's entr'acte

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thought we needed a bit of a switch up. I love the idea of Philip and Jason being a thing ngl, I have a thing for crossovers. Have ya'll seen 'new girl' bc I love Brooklyn 99 and they have a crossover with the soup episode and it may have been the greatest revelation in my life.

The click of the shutter went almost in slow motion in Philip’s mind as he snapped his head in its direction and his heart fell to his stomach in the realisation of what he had done. He had just made out with his best friend, his straight best friend, he felt the shame bubble and boil inside of him, spilling out of his eyes in the form of tears. 

“holy shit, why did I do that?” He asked, staring straight into Jason’s eyes, seeing the shocked look on his face. 

Then he turned and ran, pulling up his jacket to cover his face, it becoming wet and slobbery as he tried to escape from his nightmare. Philip sprinted past the cameras, the cold evening air freezing his lungs, causing him to cough and wheeze as he tried to get away from the paparazzi. He could hear his name being called faintly from behind him, but he didn’t stop, just sped up as it faded out into the sound of his own heartbeat echoing in his ears. He made it almost three miles before he stopped, the pain in his stomach too strong for him to continue. 

Philip tried to get his heartrate down, breathing loud and slowly as he paced up and down the sidewalk, not really sure where he was. That made him panic even more as he took a gander at which direction his home was, walking hastily around a random corner, keeping up a fast pace, trying to get home. 

“Pip. PIP!” His heart hurt as he realised It was Spiderman, running after him, and Philip sped up. “Philip?”

“leave me alone.” Philip replied as the tears streamed down his face, walking faster.

“Philip- “

“-I said, leave me alone.” Philip shouted. He quickly rooted through his coat pockets, pulling out a pack of cigarettes that he saved for when he was panicking and put one between his lips, searching through his jean’s pockets for a lighter.

Jason leapt high above Philips head, landing so he was facing Philip and took the cigarette out of his mouth. “You’re going the wrong way.” He pocketed the cigarette, pulling off his mask and holding it in his hand, his hair messy, exactly like his fathers.

Philip stopped dead in his tracks, “Oh. Thank you.” He said quietly, turning back around again.

“do you need help getting home?” Jason asked as he followed Philip, a couple of metres behind to not spook him. “it’s late, and dark.”

Philip stopped, turning to face Jason. “Jason, I’m not a child, you don’t need to ‘walk me home’ or ‘protect me.’ We are not together, and we will never be, I didn’t mean that kiss and I certainly don’t need your help, so leave me the fuck alone.”

His lip quivered and suddenly he was crying again, turning and running away from Jason, wiping his tears away with his jacket sleeve. Knowing what he did was wrong. His sprint turned into a jog, which turned into a walk as he got to a neighbourhood he recognised, turning around every now and again as he got the feeling that someone was following him. 

“Jason, go home.” He said into the night, his voice trailing away with the steam from his mouth. “I know you’re still following me.” From a few roofs away, Jason emerged from the shadows of a chimney stack, head dropped slightly in shame.

“I wanted you to be safe.” 

Philip swallowed, hating how much Jason led him on, “go home.”

“I’ll text you.”

Philip shook his head slightly “go home.” He continued walking and heard the slight patter of Jason’s feet as he walked away. Philip scrunched up his face, knowing he was being too harsh, knowing it was his fault, but made his way home before bursting into tears. 

This time he tried to cry silently, not wanting his parents to hear him come home as he locked the door behind him. He pulled the latch across and dropped his head onto the wood, breathing heavily before he finally let them roll down his cheeks, sliding down the door to the floor. He leant against it as he pressed his palm to his mouth, sobbing into it so hard that his stomach hurt.

“Pip?” He looked up to see his Dad, long black hair tied back tight in a ponytail, cup of coffee in his hands as he stood in the kitchen doorway, reading glasses on the top of his head

“Dad!” Philip quickly wiped his face, but he couldn’t stop his sobs, getting to the point where he found it hard to breath. “I can’t… I can’t…”

“Okay pip- “Alex crouched down next to his son, taking his face in his hands, forcing the boy to look up at him and stop rocking back and forth “-deep, calming breaths. What’s wrong?”

“I did something bad.” He whispered in between sobs, “I did something really bad.” 

Alex sighed, taking a second to figure out how he was going to handle it, “come on, let’s go upstairs to your papi.” He slipped back into his Puerto Rican accent as he helped Philip up, swaddling him in a hug as he led him up the stairs. 

The stairs creaked as they got to the landing, the door to the master bedroom open slightly, and a warm light spilled onto the grey carpet like golden syrup “Alex, if you have another cup of coffee and you’re going back to your office instead of getting your ass in here, I will slap it out of your hands!” John exclaimed from inside, and Alex opened the door.

“hey John.” He said, as he gently pulled Philip inside.

John looked up from his book and saw his two men standing in the doorway, “Pip, what’s wrong?” He asked, quickly sitting up in bed. With his hair up, Philip looked almost like a clone of his Father. 

“…no…nothing.” He replied before bursting into loud tears again. 

Alex led Philip to their bed, and John gestured for him to get in, pulling back the covers. Philip crawled into his open arms, sobbing into his neck. “Philip, what’s got you like this?” John asked as his husband mouthed ‘he’s done a ‘bad thing’’ at him, joining them in the bed. Alex shrugged as John mouthed ‘what is it’ and just continued to comfort Philip, trailing his fingers up and down his back.

“I’m a horrible person.” Philip finally squeaked out.

John sighed, “no you’re not Sweetie. What happened?”

“I… I kissed J-Jason.” He cried into his Dad’s chest and Alex sighed, laughing slightly, John throwing him a questioning look.

“what? I thought he had actually done something bad!” Alex said quietly to his husband.

“I have- I did.” Philip sobbed, “I just- He kept leading me on and, for a moment- I thought that he…that he liked me back.” He choked out, head pounding from the crying, trying to keep his voice down to stop the pain.

“aww Pip.” John stroked his hair as Philip began to calm down, eyes drooping and closing as the tiredness set in. “there’s going to be many people who don’t know they’re leading you on or are so oblivious that it hurts. That’s okay Pip, it’s natural.”

“you know I thought your papi was straight the first time we met, and I fell hopelessly in love with him instantly.”

John snorted, “please, I was literally wearing a pride flag as a cape, it couldn’t have been more obvious!” 

“in my defence, you were making out with Peggy.” Alex defended; voice high pitched.

“She’s a goddamn lesbian. Friends kiss friends!” John felt Philip flinch in his arms and made a face. “I’m sorry Pip.” He said, kissing his hair, smelling the coconut oil that Philip put in to separate his gorgeous curls. It made John so happy when Philip wore his hair in its natural way, he felt as though Pip was hiding his culture when he straightened it, but didn’t dare speak of it, letting Philip have his freedom and space to explore. “Jason’s missing out on a whole lot honey, you can’t blame yourself for this.”

“but then I was mean to him.”

John sighed, “what did you do?”  
“The press saw and- “Alex instantly reached for his phone.

“okay, we need to talk to someone about this, we can’t have pip’s face plastered on newspapers!” John exclaimed, sitting up.

Alex held up the phone to his ear, “I’m already on it. Hi there DA Michaelson.” He got up from the bed, beginning to pace as he talked into the phone, “You’re working with the press at the moment, right?”

“of course.” Said the deep voice for the other end of the line.

“look, I’ll owe you one, but my Son has seemed to found himself in some trouble with the paparazzi this evening- “

“-give me a moment Mr Hamilton, I’m going through all copies right now…”  
“thank you so much, the image in question is one of him kissing- “  
“-spiderman! Right.”

Alex inhaled sharply, “will you give me second?” He asked, covering the phone’s speaker as he stared at Philip, eyes wide and shocked. “Are you fucking Spiderman? Because something here does not add up!” 

“Alexander Hamilton! We do not pry into our son’s love life like that!” John scorned

“well the DA said that they only had photos of our Child kissing Spiderman. Philip?”

Both adults stared at Philip, his eyes beginning to puff up from the crying. Philip made a face, “okay, so Jason may be spiderman, and I may have been sworn to secrecy.”

“Philip Hamilton!” John hissed, shocked that his son’s best friends was a superhero and that he knew about it. Alex left the room, getting back on the phone with the District attorney. 

“actually papi, it’s a really funny story. You see, Jason has this crazy ass fear of spiders, and…”

John’s phoned dinged and he quickly picked it up, “Holy shit!”

“what?”

“Your Dad just sent me this.” He showed the screen to Philip who covered his face, blushing intensely at the photo of the pair of them kissing, “this looks like something out of a movie! Damn kid, don’t want to give you hope or anything, but he looks pretty into you.”

“what!? No!” 

“um yes! Look- “John began pointing at the picture, “- his hands are up your shirt, he’s kissing you back…” He brought the phone close to his face, “Oh my God, I did not know he was that hot!”

Philip laughed, “Yeah I know! After he became spiderman, he said he had a ‘strength’ spurt thing, so he started going to the gym all summer! Airdrop me that please.” He said quietly, pushing John away as he began to smirk.

“Pip, I think you should probably give yourself a little bit of time before you talk to Jason. Plan out what you’re gonna say.”

“okay- “Alex stormed fiercely back into the room; “-I’ve got it sorted. They’re still gonna run the story, but I’ve got them to blur your face and take out any specifics, i.e. your name, which spide- Jason stupidly called out. You know, for a genius he can be- “

“-Pretty fucking dumb.” Philip finished with him. 

Across town, Jason finally flopped onto his bed after his Mum had finished scolding him. The final blow, which was the one that earnt him two weeks of no Philip time (it had been a punishment in the Feldman household since the children met in kindergarten), was him stating that her Father was probably gay due to statistics of men exerting homophobia in attempts to make themselves straight. Which admittedly, Mendel had also suggested after Jason had left, leaving him with no Trina time, and sleeping on the couch. 

But Jason found it hard to sleep that night, his stomach bubbling and fizzing as he relived the kiss over and over again. 

He rolled onto his side, checking his phone. No replies from Philip. 

He checked through his social media, sitting upright as he saw photos of the kiss being reposted over and over again, headlines reading “is spiderman gay?” Philips face blurred out, but Jason could recognise it was him. Jason would always be able to recognise him. 

“someday- “He said to himself as he sat at his desk, knowing exactly what he was going to draw for the final art piece at the art show, “- someday, I’m going to marry him.”


	18. chapter 18: The art show

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a blooming biology test on the 14th and ew. MY BIRTHDAYS ON THE 16TH and I'm still in love with Andrew Rannells.

It was a chilly morning, much colder than the most recent ones, and Marvin, like usual, couldn’t sleep. He turned onto his side, squinting at his phone. Thirty minutes until his alarm. Marvin sighed, knowing he wasn’t going to get back to sleep, and folded the cover off of himself. He swung around, his feet finding the slippers on the freezing marble floor. He pulled on a maroon hoodie from the floor, a brief sniff causing him to scrunch up his nose. He took a deep breath, relaxing himself as he stood up. He walked around the bed and out to the corridor, his feet slapping slightly against the the floor as he made his way to the kitchen. He made himself a cup of coffee, boiling water on the stove and putting in some instant coffee powder into the cup. He loved Cheap, Crappy coffee as much as he loved the expensive shit, the strong, too bitter taste causing him to make a sour face as he took the first sip of the boiling liquid. He smiled into his cup.

He finished the cup quickly, scalding the roof of his mouth, cursing as he washed the cup and stalked to his new office. It was almost an exact replica of his secret office on the work floor, but he moved his iron man suit into it, wondering why he had never done that before. The room was much larger than any other, he had built upwards, basically creating a dome on top of the roof, having to build an overhang for the helicopter.

First world problems.

He pressed several buttons on his computer pad and from the floor, his suit rose, a spectacular sight for sore eyes. He hadn’t gone out as iron man since… since Hannukah, having a lot more of his depressive episodes after having a considerable acceleration in the amount of PTSD attacks. He was scared that being iron man would trigger them, the violence, the quick paced fights.

He shook the feeling off, getting into the suit and suddenly he felt courageous, strong, the exact feeling he felt the first time he had made it, nervous, but anticipating adventure. The windows opened automatically as he flew off of the pedestal, shaky at first as he got used to the controls again. He hadn’t spent this long out of the suit ever. He finally flew into the early morning air, speaking to THEA as he tried to locate spiderman.

It was a very short fly, only a minute or so, which made Marvin wonder how close the kid lived to him, and soon after, he spotted Spiderman, walking precariously on the edge of building tops, arms outstretched as though he was tight rope walking.

“Iron Man! I haven’t seen you for months, how are you?” Spiderman leapt over the ravine between two buildings, landing on two feet. He put out his fist and Iron man punched it hard, Spiderman wincing and hopping up and down as he held it in his other hand, cursing.

“shit kid, I’m sorry. Just had some family stuff, but I’m back! How’s the city managing?”

Spiderman fell dramatically to the floor, writhing in exaggerated pain, “Cities fine, just some boring burglaries. I think they’re connected, but I’m not sure.”

“how did you figure that?” iron man asked, hovering next to him as he fiddled with the controls, mapping out where the reports of the robberies were.

Spider man got up off the floor, “they were all from government facilities disguised as empty house fronts holding weapons. Honestly, it was so surreal, walking into a house that wasn’t a house!”

Iron man nodded, “good, good. And how about you Spidey, how are you?” Iron Man began to fly along, and Spiderman matched his pace, hopping randomly from building to building.

“I don’t know, a lot of shit’s happened since we last saw each other.”

“I saw those photos, you and the boy.”

“yeah, I haven’t seen him for two weeks.”

“what!?”

“I…um… I don’t know, he ran away crying so I kind of had to give him some space.” He stopped, sitting with his back pressed against a chimney stack, “I don’t know what to do.”

“do you like him?”

“so fuckin’ much, but he’s my best friend, it can’t get complicated.”

Iron man sat next to him and sighed loudly. “complicated Is never good. I’ve had relationships with my employees, and when I broke up with them, I had to avoid them for months.” He winced, realising he hadn’t seen Whizzer in about a month.

“you seem to be hurting.”

Spiderman broke iron man out of his trance

“what?”

“you never used to talk like this, it’s very past tensey.”

Iron man laughed at the boys made up word, “can I tell you something I’ve never told anyone?” He asked after he had settled.

“you’re my friend, of course.” Spiderman replied, putting his hands in his pockets, the air too chilly for his liking.

“I fell in love with someone, and… and I took him for granted. I wanted him to be mine, but he never was, and I tried too hard to force it. I think… no, I know that it was my fault, but… but I did something bad.” A wistful smile crossed Marvin’s face under the mask, “He broke it off with me straight away and… and that was the only time he ever admitted that he loved me, and it… I – I had wanted to say it since we met but I couldn’t because he was never mine. It was just meant to be sex; I knew he would freak out and run if I did.”

They sat in silence, Jason’s teeth clashing together as he shivered until finally, across the horizon, they began to see the dark blue becoming a lighter purple.

“you know just because he never told you he loved you, doesn’t mean that he didn’t, and I think he probably still does.”

“no. he’s moved on. I saw him a month ago and he looked amazing.”

Jason smiled knowingly, “but are you sure? He told you he loved you as you were breaking up. He didn’t break up with you because he lost feelings! You still have a chance.”

“you know, you’re really wise kid.”

“I’m a genius, got my IQ tested the other day, it’s higher than Einstein’s.”

“Damn Kid, you remind me of my son.” Iron man exclaimed, “if you ever need a job, I’ve gotchu”

“meh- “Spiderman shrugged “- I’m more into the arts, I don’t really care about science and technology and shit.”

Iron man got up, gesturing passionately, “it doesn’t matter if you care or not, have you seen the state the world is in right now? Your political art can only get you so far kid, you have to create things! You say you care about climate change, but I haven’t seen you find a natural polymer to replace plastic that’s affordable, you paint murals of genocide going unnoticed, but I haven’t seen you house any refugees.”

“just because- “

Iron man interrupted him “You have a gift! You created a superstrength web fluid with things you could find in a school lab, just imagine what you could do with full resources! You could be the person to end world hunger, or war, or anything you put your mind too, except you waste it on art. It’s a side project, not a career.”

“fuck you. You sound just like my Dad.”

“well maybe your Dad’s right.”

“what, the man who refuses to leave his house, who works for days on end then passes out in his office, who’s too sad to admit he needs people.” Spiderman got up, face to face with iron man, “if I ever become like my dad, blow my brains out with your god damn gauntlets because I don’t want to be sad like he is.”

The sky was red in the horizon, matching the feelings the men were trying to repress.

“Well you probably won’t be alive long enough for me to do it, living off of an ‘artists’ wage.”

Spiderman’s jaw dropped open, the mask stretching over his features, “I’ve met people like you at my Dad’s gala’s. You’re an old, rich, white guy who doesn’t give a fuck about the environment or politics unless it’s working to your advantage.”

“I- “

“Nope. You pretend that you care, but all that really matters is that you pay only seven hundred and fifty dollars in tax and you can keep your business in check. Fuck ‘em all is your motto and you have to stay high on weed or cocaine your entire life just to have some sort of purpose. Stay sober for too long and you end up hanging yourself while masturbating just so you can feel some-fucking-thing.”

“You can compare me to that fucktard all you want, but you know how many years of experience I have on you? At least double your lifespan. I can tell you this. People say, ‘follow your passion and everything will work out’ It doesn’t fucking work out. You’re good at art kid, but what are you going to do with a degree in it, huh? You can’t be serious, do something better, change the world!”

“I can change the world with art!”

“But you could _really_ change the world!”

Spiderman chuckled darkly, sending a web into the air, latching it onto a far building “you are the spitting image of my dad. I do this to escape him, so maybe take a moment, when you realise it’s my life to lead then I’ll be able to tolerate you again.” He yanked on the thread and disappeared into the air, not looking back as his fury, he tried to mask, grew.

-

The mirror was beginning to form a layer of grime and Whizzer stood in front of it, a pot of gel in his hand. He began to slick his hair back, fed up of the strands that curled and framed his face. He clenched his teeth, staring at his reflection, he didn’t like the look, his hair almost too perfect, but there wasn’t really another solution.

“Abbie jean? Sweetie, we’re leaving in five minutes!” He yelled out of the apartment. In the few months they had been living together, He had almost forgotten what living alone was like, loving her more than he had ever loved anyone before.

She suddenly appeared in the doorway, hovering until Whizzer noticed her.

‘ _how’re you feeling?’_ She signed, watching him fiddle even more with the loose strands on his forehead.

“good. Why wouldn’t I?” He asked, a slight hint of nerves as he sped up his words.

‘ _Marvin. Does he have anything to do with why you’re wearing that?’_ She asked, pointing at Whizzer’s outfit as he picked out a pair of sunglasses.

“pfft, no. I’m over him hon. Alright, you ready?”

‘ _imma grab my phone real quick.’_

Whizzer nodded, taking a final look at himself in the mirror. He tucked the pale pink shirt into his trousers and put on the sunglasses. He turned to leave but something forced him to stop. He turned back around and stepped into his closet, reaching up on tiptoes to the top shelf as he removed a box. He placed it on the bed, opening it and removing the tissue paper, leaving it on the bed as he put on the brown leather jacket. Something about it felt right.

-

“hey kid! You excited?”

Marvin ruffled Jason’s hair as Trina and Mendel finally caught up with them. Trina scoffed at Marvin, reaching up slightly to flatten Jason’s hair, and smoothed down the front of his suit.

“yeah! Bit nervous though.” Jason made a face before smiling wide. “I can’t believe that my work is being displayed here!” He exclaimed, taking a quick look around the beautiful structure of the art gallery.

“Hey Marvin! How are you?” From behind the family, Charlotte and Cordelia appeared, both looking stunning in their outfits.

“I’m so glad you could make it.” Marvin opened the circle, kissing their cheeks before introducing them, “This is Charlotte and Cordelia- “he gestured to the circle, “-this is My son, Jason.”

“looks just like his father” Charlotte whispered into her wife’s ear, and she giggled.

Jason nudged Marvin “Dad, we’ve met.”

“this is Trina, my ex-wife- “

“-I think I’ve met Charlotte once or twice too.” Trina added

“and this is her boyfriend, Dr Mendel.”

“-husband.” Mendel corrected.

“you’re a doctor?” Charlotte asked, “what’s your field?” Cordelia rolled her eyes, nudging Charlotte. All she ever heard at home was work talk, she wanted a fun evening without it for a change.

“psychiatry.”

“oh.” Charlotte smiled politely, Marvin holding back his laughter as Jason slinked away unnoticed, ready for the opening of the new exhibition.

There was a second of awkward silence, before something left Trina’s lips, as she wished it would stay in. “I thought you were cheating with Marvin before I walked in on him and- you know.” She danced delicately around Whizzer’s name, Mendel telling her about Marvin’s increase of PTSD attacks. Suddenly she slapped a hand over her mouth as she realised, she had said it out loud, the group all staring at her.

Marvin, Charlotte and Cordelia all burst into laughter, tears falling down their faces as they doubled over, clutching onto each other and their stomachs.

“you thought- you thought I was cheating with Charlotte?” Marvin asked, sentence breaking as he couldn’t get out the words in his laughter.

“Well it’s not like I knew you were gay!” Trina interjected, a hurt look on her face as she grabbed Mendel’s hand, holding it tightly and wishing she was invisible.

“you know- you know we’re married!” Cordelia finally managed to say, taking Charlotte’s hand in her own, still doubling over at the prospect of Marvin and Charlotte having sex.

Trina leant into Mendel’s ear, “well now I just feel stupid.” But she let a small smile grace her face, realising how the situation was actually quite funny. The group laughed for a moment more until they heard the squeal of a microphone, all of them quieting instantly and turning to the small platform where they could see their son and a small group of other kids.

A woman on the platform began to speak, Marvin listening to every detail, proud that his son was up there when suddenly his eyes caught a glimpse of a familiar face in the crowd, making its way towards them. Marvin felt very small all of a sudden, and without meaning to, whispered, “what Is he doing here?”

Charlotte followed Marvin’s gaze and her eyes fixed on a man, who even made her swoon slightly. He was tall, much taller than Marvin, his hair looked like it had once been perfectly in place, now with strands in the way, cascading down his face as though he had given up with it. He was tan and his pale pink shirt, which was buttoned down far enough to see his chest hair, made him glow as though he was an angel in a biblical piece of renaissance portraiture. Then he took off his sunglasses and Charlotte noticed his only imperfection. The tiny frown lines, formed from worry, beginning to grow on his forehead and the smile lines around his eyes.

He was human, not an angel, real.

“that’s Whizzer!” Marvin whispered into her ear, clutching onto her arm as his knees suddenly went weak. She almost gasped at the shock of how on earth Marvin landed this gorgeous man, and turned to Cordelia, filling her in.

To Marvin, he walked in slow motion, a cliché that seemed to work for him as he finally joined the group.

“what are you doing here?” Trina hissed as Whizzer ignored Marvin, standing beside her.

Whizzer spoke in a nonchalant manner, but the tiny glances he kept throwing to Marvin were a dead give-away, “Jason asked me to come two weeks ago, and since he asked me to come, I came.” He whispered into her ear, loud enough for the group to hear.

Trina sighed, irritated at her son as she turned to Mendel, muttering under her breath sarcastically, “great, this is exactly what I want, my ex-husbands ex-lover, isn’t that what every mother dreams about having attending all of her son’s events.” Mendel nodded in agreement, muttering something snarky into her ear.

Amongst themselves, the Lesbians and Marvin were chattering, Marvin panicking at the sudden nature of Whizzer’s presence.

“Hey!” suddenly all five of them turned to face Whizzer as a scene was beginning to form. “I love Jason, I am an artist for goodness sake, that’s what I’m doing here.”

Charlotte pushed Marvin forward slightly but shook his head, waiting for the lady to finish speaking, and suddenly a curtain was dropped, and the chatter rose as they began to follow the stream of people.

“hello.” Whizzer said warmly to the lesbians, shaking each of their outstretched palms as he introduced himself, then he turned. “Marvin.” Whizzer said curtly, nodding in a greeting.

“whizzer.” Marvin replied, mimicking his voice ever so slightly, causing Whizzer to clench his jaw, his cheekbones carved at such an angle that Marvin’s mouth suddenly went dry.

Charlotte pulled on Cordelia’s sleeve, and in a silent agreement, they slipped into the crowd, leaving the pair alone, waiting for Jason to finish taking photographs in silence. The silence was charged with electricity, so many unresolved feelings, so many unsaid words.

“I’m sorry.”

“I know.”

“I know you know, but I never told you.”

Whizzer turned to face Marvin, “yes you did. You came to my apartment, I don’t know if you were drunk or high, but you were hammered, and you apologised.”

“I did?”

“it was the night after I…”

Suddenly it came back to Marvin in tiny chunks. Sitting in the elevator late at night, going down to Whizzer’s apartment. A stranger opening the door.

“you were with someone else already.” He interrupted, quietly.

Whizzer nodded, “I was.” He said honestly.

Marvin sighed, looking up to Whizzer with his large brown eyes, “was there ever a point where it was just you and me?”

“Oh, Hi Whizzer! You came.” Jason interrupted, hugging Whizzer tight.

“of course, I did! AJ’s here somewhere, I think she found Philip- “

“Pip’s here?”

“yes?” Whizzer replied, puzzled

“excuse me, I have to find him!” Jason hopped off and Marvin looked at Whizzer expectedly.

Whizzer turned to Marvin, a sense of familiarity all of a sudden, “towards the end it was just you and me.”

Marvin nodded, an old, tired look on his face. They walked slowly, mingling in amongst other people. “you’re still wearing the jacket, huh?” He pointed out in the silence, watching closely as Whizzer would stop at different art works, almost pressing his nose to them.

“yeah, felt right.” Whizzer said, smiling to himself. “how are you Marvin, really?”

Marvin sighed, “I’m not great.” He said honestly, “I don’t sleep much, and my PTSD attacks are getting pretty bad, but I’m seeing Mendel about them. How about you?”

“I gave up smoking.”

“that’s really great Whizz- er” he accidentally called him his nickname, quickly correcting himself. They felt comfortable as a pair and Marvin’s stomach hurt as he realised what he had lost. “I got a cat.”

“yeah, Jason told me.” They continued walking, pondering along slowly, Marvin catching Charlotte and Cordelia staring at them from behind a statue. Whizzer suddenly caught a glimpse of Jason’s wall, and gasped loudly, grabbing Marvin’s hand and pulling him over. Marvin blushed bright red at the touch as though he was a school child. “Look! Jason’s art!” Whizzer exclaimed, stopping in his tracks. He looked down and noticed is hand curled tightly around Marvin’s. He inhaled sharply and let go, rubbing his eyes as he avoided Marvin’s gaze.

Marvin smiled brightly as they both viewed his first two pieces, Whizzer gushing over the artistic side as Marvin tried to place why the style looked so familiar. The spray paint was bold, yet each line seemed to be perfectly placed on its first try.

“I thought he had- “Marvin turned to see that Whizzer had disappeared, calling out for him, “Whizzer?” He walked around the wall and at first, just saw whizzer standing there. “what’re you looki- “

He gasped as he saw it. Jason’s third piece. At first, all he saw was the Perspex hanging from the ceiling, a sketchy, very different feel to it as the white paint formed an image of Trina and Mendel dancing at their wedding. Then he noticed the ones behind it, quickly walking around the first so he could see Charlotte kissing Cordelia, their big bouncy hair being a huge giveaway. He looked to the third one, Spiderman upside down kissing the boy who had been in the press. His smile dropped as he saw the final three. His own hand in contact with Trina’s face, Whizzer kissing his cheek, and the prostitute in his strong grasp. He breathed heavily, walking back to the front where his eyes finally put together the images. When aligned perfectly, they formed Jason’s face, the parts that made up who he was.

“this is genius Marv!” Whizzer exclaimed, taking his place next to Marvin. He had forgotten how Marvin’s presence had made him feel whole, not realising he felt broken until he was with him.

Marvin chewed his lip, and without thinking about it, the words flurried out of his mouth, “would it be possible to see you, or to kiss you, or to give you a call?” He was mortified by himself, blushing bright red and eyes widening.

Until Whizzer nodded.

-

Jason stood, overseeing his art being moved carefully in a van. He was satisfied as the final piece of Perspex disappeared and he was finally able to relax, tying the laces of his shoes together and hanging them around his neck like he had seen in the movies.

“Hi Jason.”

He tensed up, quickly shaking it off as he tried to act natural. “Pip. What are you still doing here?” He turned to see his best friend and a frown crossed his face, “you straightened your hair.”

Philip shrugged, “yeah, well I had to, didn’t want people recognising me. I’ve been really paranoid.”

Jason nodded, staring at his best friend, narrowing his eyes at the look on Philips face. He looked down to his feet, rocking back and forth from tiptoe to heel in his dark socks.

“I’m sorry Jason.” Philip whispered, taking a step forward so the conversation could be contained between the two, “I know you’re straight, and I’m sorry that I snapped at you afterwards.”

“no, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t of lead you on- “He put an arm on Philips bicep, stroking it lightly.

They stood there for a moment, Jason feeling his own feelings grow, bud and flower all in a millisecond as his dark brown eyes met Philips hazel ones.

The more you hide your feelings from someone, the more they grow.

“can we forget about it?” Philip’s voice shattered his hopes.

“the kiss?” He asked, drawing his hand away from Philip as though it suddenly burnt to touch him.

Small tears welled up in Philip’s eyes, and he cocked his head, nodding ever so slightly, “I just want my best friend back.” His eyes were red and his sniffed, putting on a tiny smile.

Jason smiled, knocking the air out of Philip as he hugged him tight, letting the smile drop and sobbing silently into his shoulder.

There they stood for what could have been minutes or hours, both of them trying not to let the other know they were crying as they felt the loneliness draw in, closer and closer until they finally let go.


	19. chapter 19: "you knew?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oop de doop, dunno if this is fluffy or angsty so that's an l

Marvin sat in the restaurant, subconsciously fiddling with the ring on his finger, sliding it on and off with ease. He stared around the room, watching couples leaning across the table to kiss, watching fathers and daughters catching up, and suddenly he felt the ring slide between his fingers, the metallic noise causing Marvin to snap his head around, as it hit the floor, rolling under the table. He sighed, taking a brief glance around before ducking his head under the table, searching on hands and knees for the ring.

“well isn’t this a pretty sight Marv!” The voice exclaimed sassily; Marvin almost able to picture the smug look on his face from under the table.

He sighed deeply, reaching for the ring and getting back up, banging his head on the edge as he sat up, “hey Whizzer, it’s great to see you too.” He rubbed his head, smiling, the exact look he had pictured, on Whizzer’s face with the addition of his hands planted firmly on his hips and the sky-high eyebrow.

His expression softened and he handed the waiter his jacket, smirking at him as he took a twenty dollar note, caressing his face with it flirtatiously before slipping it into the waiter’s breast pocket, patting it and sitting opposite Marvin. “You know this is the first date I’ve been on since I was seventeen.” He said, raising his wine glass full of water in a silent toast. He didn’t know why, but he was nervous.

Marvin smiled slyly as he unfolded his napkin, draping it over his legs, “I can’t believe you Whizz, a pretty boy like you. You used to say you had a date whenever I asked you out”

“I’m not a pretty boy Marvin. I’m a grown ass Man- “Whizzer said in faux tiredness, gesturing for the waiter, “And, I lied, alright.” He said quickly, trying to change the subject, taking a quick glance at the wine menu. “can I have your most expensive bottle of white wine please, Two glasses.” The waiter left again.

“can we be honest this time?” Marvin asked, holding Whizzer’s gaze

Whizzer snorted, “pffft _, this time_?” He cocked his eyebrow, but even Marvin could see the lovesick look in his eyes, and Whizzer knew it, smiling brighter than the sun. “I’m really happy to be here Marv.” He said, honestly.

Marvin smiled into his menu, “me too.”

They continued to make small talk until the wine arrived, Whizzer pouring them both a generous glass before taking the first sip. “I’m paying for tonight Marvin.” He said, running a hand through his hair.

“I make more than you.”

“you never fail to remind me. If you want it to work this time, then you must stop feeling like I am threatening your dominance.” He took another elegant sip from his glass, closing his eyes as he swallowed the silky-smooth liquid.

Marvin smiled sweetly, “you said _this time_.”

“I did. Being alone made me realise that I don’t want to be alone anymore.” He replaced the wine glass, sucking in his cheeks as he leant back in his chair, “but I’d like to know one thing…”

“since we’re on the topic of… transparency- “Marvin took a brief sip of his own wine, “shoot.” He winced slightly at his own poor choice of wording.

“what happened that night?”

Marvin panicked slightly inside as he felt his stomach fizz. He licked his finger, circling it around the rim of the wine glass until it made a subtle hum, soothing him. “I was angry alright, really angry and it wasn’t even at Trina, or Mendel. It was at myself, because I didn’t take the time to even meet him.”

Whizzer leant forward, outstretching his hand until it was lightly playing with the white tablecloth in the middle, nodding for Marvin to continue.

“when you said ‘I can’t do this’ it triggered this memory I had from the army-“ He shrugged, slowly inching his fingers forward to meet Whizzers, “- it hit me harder than ever before and I was so submerged in the memory that when I… that when I hit him, I guess I hit Trina. I don’t really know exactly.”

Whizzer narrowed his eyes, quickly pulling his hand back from Marvin’s. “you hit someone before?!” He picked up his wallet, sliding it into his suit jacket and got up to leave.

“wait!” Marvin reached out for Whizzer, his fingers tangling and catching in Whizzers as he tried to stop him from going. As they touched, he felt the sparks ignite something deep inside of him, his old feelings instantly coming back. “it’s not what you think.”

Whizzer paused, looking into Marvin’s apologetic eyes, then sighed, “it would be a shame to let the wine go to waste.” He replied, faux nonchalance in his mannerisms. He sat back down, pulling his body away from Marvin’s, colder than before.

“you thought you were the first, but you weren’t. There were others before I met Trina.”

“you married her _knowing_ you were gay?” Whizzer asked as though Marvin was being stupid. Upon realising that he did had done the same thing, blushed bright red.

“god no, well sort of. Always did that thing where I said, ‘christ I had so much to drink last night’” Whizzer snickered, a smile stretching across his face as he leant in again. “There was this one man when I was in the army, Sebastian. Charlotte, him and I were close, really close, and we started out as just friends, then friends with benefits. The stupid thing is, friends with benefits never works out, and we got into a huge argument, he told me I needed to take a risk, that if I didn’t tell him I loved him then we may as well just be friends.” He took a slow gulp of wine. “he died in my arms. The rest of them too, but charlotte and I were slightly behind the group. I didn’t remember when it happened, I think I only relived it for the first time that night. I did CPR for two hours until Charlotte dragged me off of him. I was distraught, finally realising that I loved him too late.” He sighed loudly, “When something traumatic happens, you try to make it go back to normal, I don’t know, I just remember shaking him, yelling at him, wanting him to wake up so I slapped him. Then I woke up and I didn’t know what had happened, just seeing Trina holding her face and the stinging of my hand.”

“oh god.” Whizzer whispered across the table. He reached for Marvin’s hand, cupping them with his own. “shit. I’m so sorry I broke it off with you” Whizzer said, opening his eyes wide, guilt lacing his voice.

But Marvin just shook his head, “I needed it. You made me realise that I needed help. So, thank you Whizz.” He stroked Whizzer’s knuckles before realising what he was doing, pulling his hands away. But Whizzer caught them in his own, smiling as he laced his fingers in-between Marvin’s.

“I’ve missed this, I’ve missed you- “Whizzer sighed “- you know what we talked about on the phone? Well I think I’m ready.”

“you want us to get together?” Marvin asked, the hopeful smile he was trying to hide, peeking out from behind his lips.

Whizzer smiled, perfect teeth shining bright in the low candlelight, happy that he said, ‘get together’ and not ‘get back together’. “yeah, we can go slow, a step at a time, and this time we won’t fight, I won’t leave straight after having sex, we can go on dates, like this one! I’m not going to play games- “he sighed, the smile still full and glimmering, before turning serious. “- and I’ll try monogamy, I’ll try for you, but I can’t promise that it’ll stick. It’s just… I’ve never really done it before, but I’ll try.”

Marvin smiled with his teeth, and nodded, “I’d really like that.” He said softly. He raised his glass up, Whizzer following, “to us” he announced.

“to us.” Whizzer repeated, their glasses meeting in the centre with a clink before they each took a satisfying sip out of them.

“now that we’re being honest… I have something I should probably tell you- “He leant in, his nose almost touching Whizzer’s.

Whizzer rolled his eyes “-I don’t care about the amount people you’ve fucked Marv, please don’t make us be one of _those_ couples”

“-I’m iron man.” He whispered, bracing himself for Whizzer’s reaction.

Whizzer closed the gap between them, kissing Marvin tenderly. Marvin melted into the kiss, forgetting how much he had missed Whizzer’s taste, which had changed ever so slightly since giving up smoking. Whizzer gently pulled away, keeping his eyes closed for a beat before they fluttered open gently, his smile growing as his focus was drawn to Marvin’s face, imperfections and ruggedness enhanced in the low light, which were the parts of him, he couldn’t help but love.

Whizzer stayed there for a moment before he let out a silvery laugh, giving Marvin a sudden chill. “I know.”

They stayed there for a second, Marvin entranced by Whizzer’s beauty when suddenly he gasped, pulling back as what Whizzer said finally caught up with him. “I’m sorry, what?!” He exclaimed, taking a brief look around the restaurant before lowering his voice again, “you knew?”

Whizzer smiled, rolling his eyes, “oh honey, you weren’t exactly ‘discreet’- “he replied, taking a sip of wine in a ‘matter of fact’ way “- I mean, the engines on that thing aren’t some of your best work.” He explained, “very loud. Also, did you really expect me to believe that you just happened to get shot! That was the final thing that made me sure.”

“what?! So, I didn’t need to lie to you for ten months?”

“nine months, and I liked watching you squirm.” He said, quickly pecking Marvin on the lips, “but I’m happy you finally told me.” He smiled sweetly, squeezing Marvin’s hand as he finally felt whole again.

Marvin went home later that night too giddy and too lovesick to sleep. He was slightly buzzed from the several bottles of wine Whizzer had ordered, and as they reached Whizzers floor, they both staggered out, giggly and young, holding hands.

Once they finally stopped laughing, Marvin smiled, staring intensely into Whizzer’s eyes.

“god, if this is dating then I’ve missed out!” Whizzer laughed, draping his arms around Marvin’s neck, “you wanna stay the night?” he asked, leaning in to kiss Marvin.

He moaned into the kiss, smiling as it deepened and Marvin’s arms moved down to his ass, squeezing it slightly to make him giggle. “ugh, I wish, but we’re taking this slow.” Marvin reminded him as he pulled away, “also the kids.”

“that’s never been an issue before.” Whizzer replied, smirking as he began to kiss down Marvin’s neck.

“wait- “Whizzer stopped abruptly as Marvin said it, an innocent, puppy look on his face, “-I’ve got to go on patrol.”

Whizzer paused for a second, trying to collect his drunken thoughts, “you want to get coffee tomorrow?” He asked, smiling gently as he brushed some of Marvin’s hair out of his face.

“I’d like that.” Marvin replied, reaching up on tiptoes and kissing Whizzer one final time before getting back on the elevator.

-

The bitter night felt warm from the alcohol and his head felt as though it was full of cotton wool. “god I’m getting soft.” He said to thin air as he flew over the city, his heart feeling as though it was about to burst.

Suddenly the robotic voice of THEA echoed through the mask, and he cocked his head slightly as she announced Spiderman’s position relative to his, “that’s odd.” He thought to himself, “he never does Saturdays.” He followed THEA’s navigation, taking short fast turns until he abruptly stopped, hovering in the air in front of what seemed to be a row of houses.

“Spidey?” He called out, doing a spin as he turned on his thermal imaging vision, hoping to spot his partner.

From inside the row of houses, he spotted two figures, and he zoomed in, trying to identify who they were. All of a sudden, he was yanked backwards, looking down as he struggled with the thin, rope like substance wrapped around his middle.

“Will you shut the fuck up man!” Iron man stopped struggling as he recognised the voice. “those guys in there are about to rob the place and you’re here announcing yourself to the whole world.” The voice hissed.

The rope, or web, was cut free from behind him, and Iron man turned. “sorry.” He said sheepishly, seeing Spiderman hanging upside down from a fire escape.

“yeah, you should be. When I give you the signal, we’re going all last dragon on these motherfuckers.”

“aight.”

Then the silence ensued. The awkward silence, so charged, iron man knew that if he made a single mistake or misplaced a word, he would instantly be made a new suit of his own flesh. He sighed, trying to keep his breathing quiet.

“Jesus, could you _be_ any louder?” Spiderman asked, snapping his head around and glaring at Iron Man.

“Okay, I’ve had enough. I’m sorry kid, but we have more pressing issues at hand.”

“do we really though?” Spiderman asked, dropping to his hands and feet.

“well I god damn think so because that- “He made a huge, dramatic gesture to the street below, “- that is our guys getting away with what looks like a bag of untested government weapons. I’m taking the bigger one.” He Yelled, zooming to the street below.

Spiderman scoffed loudly before following him, jumping onto the smaller man’s back. “You know what fuckface, I’ve had It up to here- “He roundhouse kicked the larger man to the floor as the smaller one got up, “-with you telling me what to do and what not to do.” He leapt out of the way as iron man took off, holding the smaller one by the ankle. “I’m almost an adult and part of growing up Is making mistakes!”

He received a blow to the back of the head, crumpling to the floor as the man held a gun up to him.

Iron man rolled his eyes, using his gauntlets to shoot beams at the man, narrowly missing him as he took cover behind a car. “yes, and I’m sorry about that, I’m not your Dad so I shouldn’t be telling you what to do and what not to do.” He flew out of the way as a blast of blue light ricocheted off of a lamp post.

Spiderman rolled to the side, shooting out a web “thank you! But that doesn’t sound very sincere.”

“what more do you fucking want, kid!” Iron man yelled, back turned as he wrestled a man to the floor, “should I get you flowers, that’s what I used to do for my ex-wife.” He joked, zip tying the man’s hands behind his back. Silence. He sighed loudly, “look kid, I’m sorry, I was a jerk, it’s just in my nature, I’m a god-awful dad so you should be happy I’m not yours.” Silence. “I shouldn’t tell you- “

He turned around just in time to see Spiderman fall to his knees, clutching his stomach, hands bright red, panic in his eyes.

“-shit!” Iron man quickly forgot all about the man, racing forward to Spiderman’s side. “Spidey?” he tried to pry his hands away from his stomach, but he could see that he was beginning to sway forwards and backwards, not able to breath, getting closer and closer to unconsciousness.

“I’m fine.” Spiderman managed to gargle out, blood dripping from his lips. Then he fell into Iron Man’s lap, unconscious, his breaths getting fainter and fainter. “I’m fine.” He whispered in his dream state.

-

Iron man banged on the familiar door, mask off and spiderman’s limp, lifeless body in his arms. The door was opened almost straight away by Charlotte, and she didn’t even need to be told what had happened before she paled.

“I- he- “Marvin was hyperventilating, scared of losing yet another person in his life.

Instantly Charlotte pressed herself against the wall, Marvin running in with spiderman in his arms, laying him down urgently on the kitchen table.

“shit. This is bad.” She felt the wound as Marvin stood in the corner, tears now streaming down his face as he came to terms with how bad the situation was. Charlotte began to talk to herself “bullets still inside. judging by the amount of blood, it’s punctured his…” She quickly ran to the bathroom, grabbing her medical supplies and as many bottles of pills she could fit, “How is he alive, he shouldn’t be alive.” She said quietly, Cordelia entering the room with a paper bag for Marvin to breath in to. She forced it into his hands as Marvin watched Charlotte grind up the strongest pills in a concoction of painkillers and watched her hands move to his mask.

“no, you can’t!” Marvin yelled, “We promised!” he was delirious now as Cordelia began trying to shove him out of the room.

“Marvin, calm down. I need to see if he’s responsive and administer the painkillers.” Charlotte replied calmy, Army doctor mode now, grabbing a pair of medical scissors. she began to cut down the centre of the mask, and suddenly it sprung into two halves.

Marvin’s face went white and suddenly he was yelling, tears streaming harder down his face, “that’s my son!” he screamed, “that’s my boy!”

“holy shit it’s Jason.” Cordelia whispered.

And then Marvin passed out.


	20. chapter 20: as quoting Jason, "the day my Dad's iron man is the day I get shot"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> well look at that, I'm not dead.

When Jason was five, he went out into the real world for the first time. His Mum had made an excuse of being recognised as a means to not take him out, so a nanny was hired.

He found out years later that she had just tried to take her own life for the first time around then, he didn’t even realise.

Jason had always had an incredible memory, one of the positive aspects of his Fathers personality that he had inherited from him, so often times he would think back to that day.

He had been outside before of course, his mum taking him out onto the roof, pointing out different buildings on the skyline, and he would ask why he couldn’t go out there.

She would always say the same thing, putting Jason down firmly, crouching to his height and holding his hands in her own.

“Because, Jason, there are bad people out there who don’t like your father. I don’t want them to take you away from me.”

And then Jason would have nightmares, of the big, bad men coming to take him away.

But when he was five, Trina realised that she couldn’t let him stay sheltered forever, so she hired the nanny. Looking back at it, Trina would laugh at her mistake, hiring a male nanny so her husband wouldn’t cheat on her. Her friends had told her stories of their husbands sleeping with the woman they had hired, leaving them for their mistresses, so she tried to prevent it. Instead, she accidentally drove him into the arms of a charming young man.

Marvin had slept with him several times, she asked much later on when they had a drunken night together full of laughs, once they were friends.

Jason did not like the man. There wasn’t a specific reason, he just didn’t like him. So, after being taken to central park, playing hide and seek in amongst the orange piles of leaves, he ran.

Freedom never felt so good.

The chilly air hurt Jason’s lungs, but he was given a sudden burst of energy he had never felt before, motivation to keep running, the man he didn’t like, a blur in the distance as he doddled along. Then suddenly he felt his knees buckle and he tripped, falling face first on the hard-concrete path.

And just like that, he felt human again, and like any five-year-old boy, he felt the crocodile tears build in the corner of his eyes as he wailed for his mother.

“are you okay?” The voice was small, and Jason suddenly felt frightened, he had never met someone new on his own before.

He looked up, and saw a boy, the same height as him, sitting down on the curb next to him. “you have big hair.” Jason said, trying to get up, still scared.

“do you need help; my daddies are here somewhere.”

“you have more than one daddy?”

“I have two- “the boy exclaimed proudly, adopting a superhero like position “-how many daddies do you have?”

“just one, I wish I had two daddies.”

There was a silence, Jason wincing as he pulled up his trouser leg, exposing a small graze.

“That looks sore.”

“it hurts a little bit, but I’m brave.” Jason lied. “my name’s Jason”

“I’m Philip.”

“flip?”

“no, Philip.”

“Ph-il-ip.” He sounded it out pneumatically before trying again, “Flip?”

“Philip.”

“flip?”

“Philip. You can call me Pip if you can’t say it. That’s what my papi calls me.”

Jason pulled down his trouser leg, standing up clumsily. “what’s a _papi_?”

“it’s what I call one of my Daddies, so they don’t get confused.”

“cool.”

That was how Jason met his best friend.

When he got home, his mum scolded him, telling him he wasn’t allowed out again if he was going to run away. He turned on the crocodile tears again, talking about his new friend flip, and Trina softened, using some of her old contacts to find the family. Who said housewives did nothing?

When Jason was nine, he got in his first fight. He was stuck in a private school for ‘gifted children’, Trina wanting him to get the best education a kid could have, but he hated it.

Each morning he would have a temper tantrum as Trina would dress him in the scratchy blazer and the choking tie as he would scream and shout, there were many days that Trina would cry after dropping him off at school in the grocery parking lot, head on the steering wheel.

That was around the time of her second attempt, this time with pills and vodka.

Jason hated how strict school was.

Jason hated his teachers.

Jason hated his uniform.

But most of all, Jason hated not being with Philip, having no friends at school, he just bunched up all his anger, keeping it inside him until he got home.

And thus, the cycle of yelling continued. Trina and Jason were miserable for months and Marvin just locked himself away in his office, showing no signs of interest.

It was Philip who came up with the idea.

If Jason got into enough trouble, his parents would have no choice but to take notice of him. Jason had no intention of following the idea, but it stuck with him, the idea following him to school. And that was when it happened, an urge rather than a decision.

He was sat alone on the bench, like every lunchtime, and he watched the playground, seeing people play. And like every lunchtime, he saw the boy who never spoke being pushed off of the swing set.

This time he saw red, anger, and he ran up to the bully, pushing him away. Then he tried picking up the quiet boy off of the ground.

The bully lumbered up, he was big, much bigger than Jason, and where Jason was slight and fast, the bully had a layer baby fat that made him seem like a brick wall. He took a swing at Jason, who fell to the floor as a bright red slap mark emerged on his face. Then he was on top of Jason, the pair rolling backwards and forwards as they tried to tip the balance of who was on top until a teacher was pulling the pair apart.

The boys were made to sit in a small room until their parents arrived.

To Jason’s disappointment, only Trina showed up. She was terrifying, mortified and worst of all, apologetic to the bully’s family.

That made Jason snap, wanting to tell his mum that It wasn’t his fault, that he was defending the boy, that she would’ve wanted him to do what he did. But he bit his tongue, knowing nothing he could say would make a difference.

He was forced to stay at the school.

When Jason was seventeen, he was shot in the stomach.

A fatal hit.

He didn’t feel it for a moment, having enough time to smack the guy he was fighting’s head into the concrete, before he felt the intense heat burn through his stomach.

Then he saw it.

A gaping hole, fibres of his hoodie pulling into it, the jumper beginning to slick with blood, the black fabric somehow getting even darker. His jaw dropped open as he felt the wave of pain suddenly crash into him and swallow him whole out of the blue, he let out an involuntary gasp. His mind was swirling, and his body was just begging for unconsciousness as his vision spotted and blurred, his breathing uneven, jagged, painful.

Each unhealthy breath sent a shock wave through his body, but the air he was breathing wasn’t working, each time taking nothing in.

He couldn’t feel it when Iron man scooped him into his arms.

All he could hear was his own breathing, his view tunnelling as finally his prayers were answered, and he shuddered into the oblivion.

He didn’t know how long he was out for, but he came to, seeing his Dad’s face for a second, for which he blamed on the amount of blood he had lost, before blacking out again, the pain in his stomach and lungs causing him to stop breathing.

-

And that was the end for Jason.

Or rather, the end for Jason came slightly later.

-

To Marvin, it all seemed so surreal, as though he was watching everything through a pane of frosted glass. Everything underwater.

The chair hurt his back.

That was all he could focus on.

“Marvin?” Whizzer’s voice was the only thing that broke through the veil of his innocence as he tried to hide himself away from the truth.

“the chair hurts my back.” Was all he managed to get out, words seemingly cold and heartless like he had pretended to be for many years.

Whizzer swallowed, nodding as he slumped back in his own chair. Cordelia sat opposite him, a ball of wool in her lap as she focused on her knitting, every now and again letting out her anguish as she would rip off all of her stitches and start again.

Sterile.

Marvin hated the smell of hospitals, they brought back memories of the swiss hospital he spent months in recovering after all of the surgeries he had to go through after the bomb went off.

The chair hurt his back.

Whizzer’s hand found his own on the smooth wooden armrest and he pulled away, placing his hands in his lap as he jogged his knee up and down. There was a cacophony of noise from the corridor and every one’s head turned as Trina strode aggressively into the room, Mendel following quickly in her wake, trying to calm her down. Marvin stood up quickly to greet her, pulling Whizzer up next to him by a strong grip on his sleeve.

Trina didn’t even slow down, quickly taking her earrings out, handing them backwards to Mendel along with her rings, and slapped Marvin hard in the face.

“Fuck!” Marvin cursed.

He was out of his dream state now.

“now we’re even.” She said pointedly, Marvin swallowing his guilt. “sit.” She ordered, full Mother mode now, the kind that lets a woman pick a truck up off of her baby. Instantly Marvin and Whizzer submitted, sinking into the chairs. She spun around, pointing at her husband, “you too.” She snapped before pacing up and down the waiting room in silence, no one daring to interject.

“how is he?”

“Charlotte’s emergency surgery saved his life; Cordelia called an ambulance-”

“well thank fucking Christ for that, but you know what I didn’t want to hear on a hellishly early Sunday morning? That my son is in the hospital after being shot. Now, explain yourself Marvin!”

Marvin bit his tongue, sitting in silence. Trina rolled her eyes, turning her attention to Whizzer, “I see the pair of you are back together.” She scoffed as though it was the last thing she wanted to happen, “so, what do you know Whizzer?”

Whizzer looked down into his lap, watching his hands squirm together, cracking his knuckles as he felt the cold stares of strangers, stressed about their own loved ones in the hospital.

“Marvin is iron Man, Jason is spiderman but that’s not the issue here- “Cordelia interrupted, putting down her knitting as she stood up. “-you need to take a seat- “she took Trina’s arm gently and led her to a chair, Trina protesting, pulling her arms away as Marvin sank further down into his chair.

The chair hurt his back.

Cordelia knelt on the floor, looking up to Trina, her big doe eyes truthful, something Trina hadn’t seen in a long while. That’s when she began to cry, the kind of crying that is a relief after holding it back for so long. “I’m so worried about him.” She sobbed quietly as Cordelia stroked her knee gently. “he’s my baby. Oh god, I shouldn’t have let him go out, I should have put locks on his doors, I should have- “

Mendel went to comfort her, but Cordelia shook her head as she scooped Trina into a hug.

“Trina, you cannot blame yourself, you were not the one with the gun.” Cordelia said firmly.

Across the room, Whizzer leant in close to Marvin, “why is she under reacting?” Whizzer asked.

“I don’t know what you mean?” Marvin answered, his voice innocent as he wiped his tired eyes.

“Marvin!” Whizzer hissed.

“We didn’t tell her how bad it was.” Marvin whispered back.

Whizzer’s eyes opened wide, staring at Trina’s body that was wracked with sobs, clutching her hand over her mouth. “what did you say?”

“that he was stable, they were just checking his vitals. I called her ten minutes ago.”

“what the fuck Marvin! He’s been in surgery for hours!” Whizzer hissed, his voice getting louder as he looked away from Trina, “she needs to know.” His voice was firm but slightly warm, knowing that Jason was still Marvin’s child.

Marvin opened his mouth to reply, but suddenly, across the room, Charlotte entered, speaking quietly with another Doctor. On instinct, they all stood up, suddenly becoming overwhelmed as the fate of their son lay in her hands.

“he’s pulled through.” Charlotte smiled, addressing the family and the room let out a shaky breath. “he’s sleeping, the gunshot wound was to his stomach, it ruptured several internal organs and he lost a lot of blood.” Trina gripped onto Cordelia as Whizzer raised his eyebrow at Marvin. Charlotte wiped the grim smile from her face and gestured to the family to follow her through the long, white hospital corridors.

-

Jason woke up to a start, suddenly feeling everything hurting and the confusion settling in. He choked as he felt the tube in his nose, his breathing painful, his vision blurring and spotting as he felt the overwhelming pain of his stomach build up.

“mom?” he manage to whisper.

Scared and alone.

A white room, bright lights, dark corridors.

“mom?” he whispered again, his voice hoarse and harsh.

From the corner of the room, he saw the dark mass suddenly bolt upright, staring straight at him from the chair as he lay dead still, the slightest movement making him gasp and wince.

All of a sudden, he felt the overwhelming fear as he saw the figure move towards him, only seeing them through the small slit his drooping eyelids made.

“mom?”

The figure stepped into the light and he realised how deep of a shit he was in “Hi Jason.” Trina said quietly, firmly.

Intimidating in every way.

“I think we need to have a little chat.”

If Jason wasn’t dead from the gunshot, he would be now.


	21. chapter 21: Aphonia

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This made me happy and sad at the same time. 
> 
> Anyways, I'm lowkey feeling the stress right now, BUT I FINISHED MY SECOND ANIMATION!!! IT'S ON MY IG (@graciethekay, please don't say you came from here if you hmu).
> 
> hope you enjoy people

In the centre of the bright room, Jason lay in his hospital bed, eyes closed as he listened to the adults talking around him, them hissing loudly as he came to.

“When he wakes up, I’m going to kill him.”

“but it wasn’t exactly- “

“I’m going to kill him!”

Jason’s eyes flickered open, knowing that he would rather go through it sooner rather than later and he braced himself as he waited for them to notice him.

His parents were in the centre of the room, Trina biting at her nails anxiously and her hissing escalated into full on yelling at Marvin, she had found out the actual serosity of the whole incident and Marvin had got a serious scolding along with several knees to the crotch, which Whizzer had laughed about, ending with Marvin giving him several death stares.

In the corner of the room was Whizzer, sitting in an armchair, reading a newspaper, looking up every now and again to roll his eyes at Mendel’s feeble attempts to calm Trina down.

Mendel was stood next to her in a pathetic fashion, tugging at her sleeve like a child and sitting on Whizzer’s lap was Cordelia, fiddling with his hair.

“you must get a lot of complements huh, my wife swoons over you and she’s gay?”

Whizzer put his newspaper down onto Cordelia’s lap. “Well once this girl gave me seven dollars and ran to the bathroom crying because I was quote unquote, ‘the most beautiful person she’s ever seen’, that made me feel sort of fuzzy inside, but usually I get told that I’m ‘pretty’, I don’t like that.”

“why?”

“I don’t know, seems superficial, like people use me and think I’m stupid because I let them. I’m not stupid.”

Whizzer looked to Jason, seeing his eyes open wide as if pleading for him to not notice. Whizzer winked subtly, smiling back to Charlotte as she entered with her white coat billowing behind her and clutching a clipboard in her hands, looking down at it.

“Hi Jason, how are you feeling today?” She asked as she strutted around the bed and suddenly Trina’s head darted in Jason’s direction.

He braced himself.

But nothing came.

“kid you’re looking pretty good today.” Marvin said as he went to Jason’s side, ruffling his hair as Jason pouted, not able to speak.

Charlotte cocked her head, knowing something was off. “Jason?” she asked, “how are you?” He shrugged before a look of pain bombarded his face, “okay Jason, can you use your words?”

He looked away, wincing as his breathing sounded rattled and unhealthy as though there were coins in a vacuum cleaner.

“everyone out.” Charlotte ordered, and suddenly the group that crowded the bed, filed out one by one, Cordelia kissing her cheek lightly.

Through the window, Jason watched Whizzer gently kiss Marvin and smiled for the first time in days. He avoided looking into Charlotte’s eyes, instead counting how many blinds there were.

“okay Jason, is there anything you want to talk to me about…alone.”

Suddenly tears welled up in Jason’s eyes and he frantically pointed at his throat, still looking away, feeling the soft grooves of his trachea through his skin.

“Can you speak?” She asked and he shook his head, body shaking as every motion caused him to suffer an excruciating stab of pain through his whole body. “Jason, Jason- “Charlotte gently restrained Jason’s arms as he began fighting, swaying in and out of consciousness. “-you need to calm down or your stitches will split.”

She delicately let go of his arms as he calmed down.

“okay, I know sign language, your dad told me you did too. Can you remember what has happened over the last couple of days?”

‘ _no_ ’

“That’s alright. You were shot in the stomach, you want to know something cool?” she adopted the voice she used when she treated little kids, “you shouldn’t have lived but you did because you’re a superhero!”

A small smile broke Jason’s lips and he finally tore his eyes away from the blinds, slowly turning his head back to Charlotte’s.

“we have to keep you in the hospital for a couple of weeks, but you seem to be healing faster than a normal human! Now does your throat hurt?”

Jason shook his head.

“do you know why you can’t speak?”

Jason shook his head again before sighing, a flash of pain suddenly showing in his eyes. He began to sign with his fingers, slow as though he didn’t know how to put what he felt into words, _‘I don’t know how, but every time I open my mouth to speak, it feels wrong and… and exposing as if I’m standing on a stage with a spotlight on me but I can’t speak. I just I just feel bare and vulnerable and what if I do speak, what happens if my words fall to deaf ears. What if I do speak and I just don’t have the words to tell people how awful I feel?’_

Charlotte bit her lip, not sure what she could say to help him, feeling trapped, feeling lost. “do you know who can help you, or would you like me to speak to your parents?”

Suddenly flashing through Jason’s mind, he remembered the conversation he had with Whizzer after the big argument with his Dad.

_‘I want to see Whizzer.’_

“okay, I’ll go get him for you.” Charlotte smile at Jason before reaching over the bed to pass him a glass of water, “you need to keep hydrated, you lost a lot of blood.”

She got up, replacing the clipboard at the foot of the bed and waved as she went out into the hallway, “hey Whizzer- “she said as she held the door open with her foot, “-he wants to talk to you.”

Whizzer let go of Marvin’s hand, kissing him gently before walking into the room, Charlotte blushing as he brushed past her. She turned to face the group and saw Cordelia smirk at her.

“shut up.” She said moodily, looking away as she tried to relieve the red from her face.

“I didn’t say anything.” Cordelia giggled.

Charlotte shook her head, shaking the flushed look from her face as she gestured to Marvin and Trina, leading them to a more secluded corridor.

“He can’t remember anything at all since the night it happened, but that’s normal after going through a traumatic event, he may remember it later on, he may not.” Charlotte said, “but he’s going to be alright.” she took Trina’s elbow in her hand as Trina let out a shaky breath.

“he’s going to be alright.” Trina cried out in a weepy voice, and suddenly she was engulfed in Marvin’s arms and everything around them melted away. The single thing they both cared about bringing them close as they finally let all of the demons go that they had for each other.

“I’m sorry I didn’t come to the wedding.” Marvin whispered into Trina’s hair, inhaling the scent of coconut and mango which he had missed so much, he didn’t realise how much he had missed her as his friend, the people they were before they slept together.

“I’m sorry I invited you, it was weird, I don’t know what I was thinking.” She whispered back “I’m going to be honest; I was pissed when I found out you were going on a date with Whizzer, but he makes you so happy. Don’t screw this up Marv, he’s the best person in your life.”

Marvin let her go, wiping the tears from his own eyes before reaching out gently, to dab her eyes gently. “yeah, he really is.”

“we have to keep him here for a couple of weeks, make sure his stitches don’t get infected or split, monitor his vitals, and he needs to be kept out of stressful situations for a while- “Charlotte led the pair back to the corridor, before looking through the window at Whizzer sitting on Jason’s bed. “-I was wondering if Jason has been diagnosed with any mental health problems, his documents are sealed obviously because of you- “Charlotte said as she gestured to Marvin.

Trina and Marvin shared a look, “well we haven’t had him diagnosed, “Trina began “but he showed signs of autism at a young age, he’s high functioning because of Marvin, we just thought he had grown out of them.”

“okay, you may want to get him speaking to a licensed medical health expert because he seems to be going through aphonia at the moment, but that may be due to the acute trauma, but I’m in no means an expert.”

“aphonia?” Marvin asked staring at Whizzer kissing the top of Jason’s head as he got up.

“inability to speak.” Charlotte said solemnly, “he expressed to me several feelings that he had, he said he wanted to converse with Whizzer about them, but I do recommend a therapist.”

The pair nodded, not sure how they were meant to react.

“but he’s going to be alright?” Trina asked.

“with any luck, it’s only temporary. You’ve both got to stay positive and remember, he shouldn’t even be alive right now, which may sound horrible, but trust me, the feeling gets better.”

Charlotte patted Marvin’s arms and left them, walking back into Jason’s room and began explaining some things to him.

“shit Trina, this is my fault!” Marvin said, turning to her as it finally hit him, “oh my god, I almost killed him!”

Trina faced him, standing strong as a grimace fell over her face. “yes. It is your fault, and I am so angry at you, and I am so angry at Jason, but we need to keep it together, for him.”

“I… I, I offered to make him a bulletproof suit, but he said no.” Suddenly Marvin began to cry for the first time since it had happened. “I could have prevented this!”

“yes, you could have.” Trina was cold again, knowing she couldn’t let herself cry, not again, she couldn’t let Jason see her like this. “but you can’t now. You should feel guilty, and that’s a horrible thing for me to say, but you really should. This is your fault; you are the reason our son almost died.” She paused for a moment as Marvin’s whole body shook while he cried. “But I- I forgive you.” Her voice cracked as she said it, “I shouldn’t, and it hurts because I need someone to blame. But instead of crying, I’m going to feel happy that you love Jason enough to feel accountable for your actions, because blaming yourself is the hardest thing you can do.”

She looked up to the ceiling blinking back her tears.

“babe? What are you doing?” Mendel asked as he joined Marvin and Trina, looping his fingers with hers.

Trina opened her eyes wide, sniffing the wet from them back in, “this is the first time I’ve put makeup on in three days and I can’t let it run.” She said, Whizzer giggling in the corner as he overheard, “this mascara costs thirty dollars.”

Marvin rubbed his eyes, looking away from Mendel and Trina as his eyes drifted to Jason, sitting alone in his bed, his head slowly falling sideways before it would jerk up again, trying to stay awake.

“I- I- “He didn’t finish the sentence before speed walking away down the long slippery corridor, speeding up until he found the bathroom, looking into the mirror over the basin as he breathed deeply, trying to ground himself.

His vision tunnelled and clouded, but he tried to stay present, scrunching his eyes, gripping so hard onto the sink, it hurt.

The tears quickly pooled into his eyes as he silently wept, biting his lip to stop his disjointed cries from echoing through the bathroom.

“hey, hey.” Marvin couldn’t see him through the tears, his vision wobbling as the first tear fell, and like a dam bursting, suddenly he let it all go. Painful sounding sobs, moans escaping his lips through the suppressed hiccups he tried to hide. “Marvin?”

He shook as he felt Whizzer’s breath on the back of his neck, smelling the lemongrass and mint gum, he felt the world slipping away, his reflection flickering between himself and Charlotte yelling at him.

Then Whizzer slipped his fingers into Marvin’s, feeling Whizzer push his hair out of his face and nuzzle his head under his chin.

“shhhh… baby, it’s alright.”

And suddenly Marvin was back, breathing shakily as the tears subsided slowly.

Marvin rubbed his eyes, “I didn’t, I didn’t- “He said, in realisation.

“you stayed.” Whizzer interrupted, watching their reflection in the mirror. He inhaled Marvin’s scent, closing his eyes as he nuzzled deeper into Marvin’s neck, kissing it lightly.

Marvin’s eyes were red and splotchy, and he scoffed at himself. “I look gross.” He said to his reflection, trying to wipe away the snot and slobber that ran down his face.

“I think you look handsome.” Whizzer said, punctuating his sentence with kisses down Marvin’s neck which caused him to giggle, squirming as they tickled.

“stop, stopppp- “he laughed, “I haven’t had a shower in a week.” He said, trying to detach Whizzer from him.

“I know.” Whizzer teased. He paused as he caught a glimpse of them in the mirror, and he blinked a couple of times.

“I love you.” Marvin said, “I don’t want you to feel pressured or anything, you don’t have to say it back- “

“-I love you too.” Whizzer interrupted; a huge weight suddenly lifted off of his shoulders as butterflies welled up in his stomach. “the first time you tell me you love me and it’s in a hospital toilet.” He giggled, twisting Marvin around and kissing him deeply, smiling into it.

“sounds about right.” Marvin said, breaking the kiss and looking back to their reflection “we have shit timing.” 


	22. chapter 22: then the scene turns to black

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote the first chapter of a new thing I'm working on and it's the longest thing I've ever written, so ya'll better get ready for that. 
> 
> I'm doing 30 chapters for this so, only 8 to go, which is kinda sad. after finishing my first book thing, I got really sentimental for no reason lol.
> 
> I guess there's a trigger warning for the end, but idk sorry

The crutches made Jason uncomfortable, he had given them death stares from across the room for at least a week and a half now and had refused to use them.

until now.

He tried doing the physical therapy without them, but had ended up nose to the floor, almost throwing up from how much pain he was in, he had too much pride to use the crutches.

He was also too stubborn, a trait both of his parents blamed on the other.

“hey kid, we’re going home today.” Marvin said as he entered, a bouquet of flowers cradled in his arms and Whizzer grinning widely behind him.

Jason rolled his eyes, ‘ _I know’_ he signed, still wincing a bit as he brought his hands up.

He didn’t want to admit it, but he really didn’t want to go home.

“want to try speaking today?” Whizzer asked as he presented the flowers to Jason, “I tried to choose flowers that remind me of you, but then I realised that I fucking hate flowers and I don’t hate you, so all in all, bit awkward.”

Jason smiled politely not wanting to admit that he too hated flowers, they reminded him of his middle school. ‘ _thanks Whizzer.’_

“love you kid.” He said, narrowing his eyes as he watched Jason try and swing his legs around the bed, “do you need any help?”

‘ _no, I don’t, and why are you so happy?’_ Jason asked suspiciously as he finally managed to plant his legs on the floor, suddenly his face lit up with realisation as he watched Whizzer glare at Marvin for smacking his ass. ‘ _oh my fucking god! You two had sex, gross!”_

“What! Nooo…” Marvin replied, but the small smile playing his lips was enough to give it away.

Whizzer rolled his eyes at Marvin, “he’s old enough to know that adults like sex, there is literally no other reason to get together with someone.”

“aww thanks Whizz, love you too”

_‘What if you’re asexual?’_

Marvin pointed at Jason, “he makes a point.”

“hon, do you really think that I’m asexual? These three weeks were probably the longest I’ve been without sex for- “Whizzer looked up, trying to count in his head, “-I don’t know, since I was fourteen.”

“you lost your virginity at fourteen?” Marvin asked judgily.

“thirteen, but I didn’t have sex again until I was fourteen and got a girlfriend, so there.” He said it competitively, knowing that it would get under Marvin’s skin a little, he was used to playing games like this. “anyway, I’m not discussing my sex life with you, you’re my boyfriends son.”

‘ _I know how big your dick is.’_ Jason pointed out.

“What?!” Marvin exclaimed in shock.

‘ _maybe- ‘_ Jason had a salty look on his face as he signed _‘-if you’d have come to dinner that time, you’d know.’_

“you’re still angry at me about that!” Marvin asked, rolling his eyes at the grudge this kid could hold.

‘ _yup. And kudos dad, didn’t think you’d be able to remove the stick from up your ass long enough to replace it with Whizzer’s dick.’_

Marvin gasped loudly, and dramatically “What the fuck Jason!” Whizzer stood in the corner giggling as he picked up the crutches “you better take that back, I’m your Fath- heyyyy Trina.”

The three men all froze.

Trina stopped instantly in the doorway, sensing the tension in the atmosphere like a teacher entering a classroom after having gone for a couple of minutes. “hello Marvin, what were you talking about?”

‘ _sex’_ Jason signed

Trina stared blankly at him and Whizzer interrupted, “he said racquetball.”

“god, that’s so eighties, who still plays racquetball?” she asked the room.

Surreptitiously, Marvin and Whizzer raised their hands, and Jason stifled a laugh, ‘ _you guys are old.’_

“shut up.” Marvin joked “you should be glad your mother doesn’t know how to sign, or you’d get a beating and a half.”

Trina raised a finger up to Marvin, pointing it aggressively “if he swears, you better give him a smack around the head Marvin, I mean it.”

‘ _fuck that mom.’_ Jason signed and Whizzer spat out his coffee (that was definitely there but Gracie can’t be arsed to write about how over the top it was so let’s just say it was a floofy kinda thing with so many additives that the people who made it for him wanted to kill themselves) onto the floor as he laughed.

“what did he say? Huh Whizzer!” Trina asked, snapping around to see Whizzer.

“nothing.” He said, trying to keep the smile from his face. He quickly handed Jason the crutches and Jason stared at them as though they were a bad smell, refusing to touch them as Trina and Marvin bickered in the background. “kid, you’re gonna have to use them.”

‘ _but I’m spiderman.’_

“right now, you’re just Jason. No one knows that you’re spiderman and no one thinks you’re weak, in fact your Mother thinks you’re a miracle child.” Whizzer put out the crutches again, “and so do I. so, whaddya say?”

Jason rolled his eyes, taking them in his hands and slipping the round clasp around his elbows, getting up slowly and painfully.

“there we go!” Whizzer exclaimed, “now, I took the liberty of buying you some new clothes since your bedroom is a tip and I’m pretty sure they can stand on their own.” He shuddered as he imagined it, staring into space for a moment before producing a tote bag, “they told us to let you get changed on your own, you can go behind the screen if you want, or there’s a bathroom down the hall.” Whizzer smirked, blushing as he looked away.

‘ _you fucked in the bathroom.’_ Jason deadpanned.

“hey! No judgment please- “a wistful expression crossed his face “-that’s where we said, ‘I love you’ for the first time.”

Jason raised his eyebrow at Whizzer, ‘ _you know they’re just words.’_

“well, you can use a spear as walking stick, but that will not change its nature.”

‘ _but it’s a happy thing, telling someone you love them.’_

Whizzer bit his lip, trying to figure out a way to explain it to Jason, “yeah, yeah it is, but it’s also handing them a gun and telling them exactly where it would hurt you the most if they shot you… oh um sorry.”

‘ _it’s cool, it’s cool, I can’t actually remember anything from before Charlotte explained to me what happened about two weeks ago.’_ Jason signed, shrugging. He took the bag from Whizzer and looped it over his shoulder, walking slowly from the room as though he was an old man.

Whizzer sat on the bed for a moment, trying to think, which was difficult as Trina and Marvin argued. “um guys?” he finally interjected, getting up and standing between them, “I don’t think Jason knows that you’re iron man.”

Trina turned back to Marvin “well I mean, it’s not even like Marvin’s iron man, the suit does all the work!”

“the suit does not do all the work!”

“really, because you may need to tighten up the little pouch of yours otherwise Whizzer will find someone newer and prettier, he is a whore Afterall.”

“okay, this seems a little aimed- “Whizzer interrupted. He had been called a whore enough times for it not to hurt anymore. “-let’s take a chill pill, Trina, where’s Mendel?”

“getting everything ready for tonight, I left him the job of stirring the chilli, so if it’s not nice, we’re blaming him.”

“good good good.” Whizzer turned back to Marvin, looping an arm around his waist “have you got in touch with the Hamilton’s?”

“yup, they’re coming.”

“excellent.” He pecked Marvin on the lips, “remember, do not mention a word of this to Jason, not a hint, not a anything” he waved his hands manically and theatrically in the air “and _please,_ no fighting tonight.”

Trina took one last dirty look at Marvin before smiling, “okay. Sorry I called you a whore.” She apologised to Whizzer.

“sorry I called you a bitch.” Whizzer replied.

A confused look crossed Trina’s face “you didn’t”

“ohhhh” Whizzer smiled, realising his mistake, “must’ve been behind your back.” He said, shooting a pair of finger guns at her.

Trina took a deep breath in through her nose, counting how long she held it for, before quickly taking off her wedding ring and Marvin’s ring, dropping it into Marvin’s already open palm and lunging at Whizzer, who let out a very feminine squeal and bolted.

-

Jason sat on the bright yellow covers in his bedroom at Trina and Mendel’s house, staring out of the window, not sure of what he should be doing.

He hadn’t been home in about a month, it didn’t feel right.

So he browsed his phone, scrolling through his contacts, seeing the dozens of messages from people he didn’t even know telling him to get better.

He was glad his Instagram was private.

The family didn’t tell anyone what was really wrong, instead making up a story that Jason had fallen, breaking some bones, nothing too bad but he would be staying out of school for a while.

Jason didn’t really need school, teaching himself about the latest advances in the biomedical field and whilst in the hospital, having several thoroughly enjoyable conversations with some of the leading doctors in the field about their work.

Jason spent several days playing chess with his dad, beating him almost every time.

Marvin was a grandmaster and had become one by the age of nine so beating him was quite an achievement for Jason, especially since his Dad would never choose to let him win, his competitive nature made sure of that.

Jason’s finger hovered over Philip’s number, staring at the smile on his face as he exhaled smoke into the camera and his mind drifted away to the kiss they shared, how the world melted away, how Philip’s abs felt under his shirt, how Jason wanted to pull down his pants and let him rail him… Jason shook his head, putting down his phone and pressing his fingers into his eye sockets.

The feeling of hugging Philip, saying they were meant to be friends, but feeling the hurt as they embraced, his suit wet from the tears.

He threw down his phone wiping his eyes.

But he could almost see it watching him.

Quickly he picked it up pressing Philips number, his fingers moved swiftly, not even thinking about what he was typing.

‘can you come over?’

He saw the three dots appear almost instantly as Philip replied straight away.

‘sorry, busy rn, talk later?’

He sighed, throwing the phone back down on the bed and rolling his eyes.

“Jason! Dinner’s ready” Trina yelled from downstairs and Jason smiled, glad that it was going to be a home-made meal for a change. It was painful to get up, and took almost all of his strength, the bullet wound still painfully raw and bruised, letting off an incredible ache whenever he tried to move or laugh.

He tottered up to his feet, reaching for the crutches that were leaning against his bed, and slowly he limped out of the room, reaching the door with some difficulty.

He fumbled for the doorknob, it was tricky trying to stand up and twist it at the same time, but eventually he made it to the landing, making sure he switched off his bedroom light before limping to the rail of the balcony overlooking the front hall.

“surprise!”

His jaw dropped open and he covered his mouth, a large smile on his face, before he tried to stagger as fast as he could down the stairs.

Beneath him stood Trina and Mendel, standing with his arm around her waist, next to them was Marvin and Whizzer, Whizzer’s large hand gripping tight around Abbie Jean’s neck in a way she found comforting. Standing beside her was Philip, a bright smile on his face, his hair larger than life, the ringlets making Jason feel slightly giddy inside and on the edge, John and Alexander, john gossiping with Cordelia as Charlotte held onto her arm.

Marvin was the one to speak, “Whizzer thought it was a good idea to re do our dinner since you’re still salty about me missing it, but this time, we invited everyone.”

Jason smile was as large as Philips hair, and he stopped on the landing separating the two floors, reaching out his hands. ‘ _thank you Whizzer, can you tell everyone I said thanks?’_

“no problem kid. He said thank you.”

A chorus of ‘woos’ was emitted into the air and Trina welcomed everyone into the kitchen, Abbie Jean and Philip tagging behind, waiting for Jason.

‘ _hey, you’re like me now!’_ Abbie Jean signed, an almost sympathetic smile on her face, before knocking the air out of Jason with a hug. He coughed suddenly, the pain from the wound stabbing through his body, ‘ _oh shit, I’m sorry!’_ she signed, quickly letting go of him as she checked if he was alright.

Jason leant on the bannister for a moment, trying to relax and soothe the pain, before his expression returned to the large smile it was before, ‘ _hey! Our dads are fucking again!’_ he signed, causing Abbie jean to bite her lip, giggling silently.

‘ _you don’t have to tell me’_ she rolled her eyes _, ‘but it’s better than the guys he was with before’_ She took a glance as Philip and then back to Jason, ‘ _imma give you guys some space but that kiss…’_ she made a subtle gesture for hot and skipped away down the hall, embracing Whizzer as he ruffled her space buns, closing the door behind her for their privacy.

There was an awkward silence between the pair.

“hi.” Philip said softly.

Jason waved, it was tiny and like him, broken.

“I’m sorry I don’t know ASL, but I’m learning it, I can understand most of it, but you and AJ are too fast for me to understand.”

Jason let out a huff of air as a sort of laugh, looking away from Philip.

Philip’s voice dropped to a whisper, “I’m so so so relieved that you’re okay.” His voice sounded slightly raspy, and cracked as he said it, causing Jason to look up, staring at the tears beginning to pool in Philip’s eyes.

Jason swallowed, opening his mouth a little then closed it again, a tiny popping noise echoing through the almost silent hall before he sighed.

“okay, I’m going to go.” Philip said softly, turning to walk to the dining room, Jason trying to catch up with him, but the pain causing him to double over.

Philip hesitated as he heard Jason’s groan, hand reaching for the doorknob.

“Pip- “Philip turned instantly, surprised by Jason’s sudden outburst. His voice was raspy and dry, having not spoken in almost a month, “-I like your hair like that.” Was all he said, before he went back to being silent again, struggling forward to enter the dining room with Philip.

The meal was spent laughing and sharing stories of each other, the group becoming one tight knit family in the most unconventional way possible. Jason didn’t speak again that night, but a part of him was fixed as he watched everyone he loved getting along for a change, sometimes signing things so that his mother couldn’t see as Marvin would smack him round the head jokily for cussing.

He made sure he slowed it down so Pip would understand, and along the table, he would catch the subtle glances they would throw each other, notice how he would blush, notice how he would jolt his head away when their eyes met.

He also noticed the way both Marvin and Whizzer excused themselves mid meal and came back with Whizzer’s usually perfect hair astray and Marvin’s cheeks slightly red.

Whizzer winked at him as he sat down again, bringing a finger to his lips as Abbie jean pinched him, signing something about how they couldn’t keep it in their pants, but Whizzer just kissed the top of her head, nuzzling his mouth ever so slightly into her soft 4c hair.

Jason hugged everyone goodbye in the late evening, promising Cordelia he would eat all of the cookies she made before instantly throwing them in the bin and excusing himself to his bedroom, feeling the isolation set in again as he struggled to make his way up the stairs.

He stood in front of the mirror in his bedroom, swiping his jumper sleeve over it to remove the dust that had settled. It puffed into his face, causing him to cough scratchily and raw, painful in his stomach.

Slowly he pulled off his jumper, unwrapping the cling film that circled around his body, revealing the gauze. He grit his teeth as he took the corner of it in his fingers, trying to peel it back slowly. He yelped in pain, letting go of it as he shook his hands, clenching his fists tight. Jason took another deep breath and pulled off the gauze in one swift motion, exposing the wound to the open air.

He inspected it in the mirror, _why aren’t you healing_ he thought to himself and slowly, he pulled a finger up to it, prodding it lightly. He felt his heart stop as a blinding surge of pain passed through his body, withdrawing his hand as though he had touched fire.

Suddenly an idea came to mind.

Jason wasn’t proud of what he did that night.

Quickly, he rooted through his desk, pulling out his sharp craft knife.

He stared at it for a moment, eyebrows furrowed before he brought it to a different area of his stomach, making a shallow cut as he exhaled heavily, trying to ignore the pain. He watched the wound close itself almost instantly and clenched his jaw.

_why aren’t you healing?_

Jason thought to himself.

He swallowed hard, limping to his bookshelf and getting the first book he could find from his shelf.

Wise blood.

He staggered back to the mirror, placing the book between his teeth and biting down on it, keeping it in place. His hand shook as he reached the craft knife to the wound, dreading the pain, and slowly, he cut into himself, his yells muffled by the book as he made the first incision.

He wiped his brow, watching as the blood gathered in pearls before dripping down his stomach to his sweatpants and he scoffed at himself for not thinking it through at all.

He took another deep breath, dropping the knife, and slowly he reached his fingers up to the gash he had made, scrunching his eyes closed as he suddenly plunged his fingers into the wound, screaming in agony into the book, tears pooling in his eyes as he reached around inside.

He stopped, panting heavily and his body started shaking with his sobs as he tried his hardest to push them away until after he had finished.

He continued to press into the deep cut, reaching for something, anything that felt out of place, and suddenly he felt it, spherical and cold. He managed to get his fingers around it and pulled it out triumphantly before he went woozy, collapsing heavily to the floor.

He tried to stay conscious as he examined what he had pulled out of himself, a tiny metal ball with deadly sharp razors attached to it.

_What the fuck?_

He thought to himself, his hand suddenly falling to the ground as the thing dislodged itself from his fingers, rolling away from him, and slowly he watched as everything stopped spinning and faded into darkness. 


	23. chapter 23: what the fuck is going on?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> welp, relatable title. 
> 
> you know what I'm looking forward to? HAVING TO GO TO COLLEGE BUT NOT SWIMMING BUT APPARENTLY IT'S STILL CLASSED AS A LOCKDOWN. that ain't it luv, sozzer Bojo you clown. 
> 
> Also, I reckon he has a bit of a drinking problem.
> 
> Anyway, this has a bit of smut at the end, it isn't particularly graphic but it's so awkward to write. 
> 
> when writing smut:😳
> 
> when reading smut:😐

“huh.” Philip said, nose close to the counter. He stood back up to his usual height, looking at Jason, “I have no clue what this is.”

Jason rolled his eyes, slouching slightly as all hope was lost, ‘ _I thought you had something’_

“bruh, what would make you think that me, a non-genius normal human being, would know what _this_ is.” He gestured to the sphere on the counter, “it’s so small, I wanna eat it.”

‘ _please don’t’_ Jason signed, rubbing his eyes hard, ‘ _but just look at this!’_ He exclaimed, getting up and quickly grabbing two forks from the drawer that slid open slowly. He perched back onto the stall that sat beneath the kitchen island, gently, he poked at the small sphere with one of the forks, holding it in place with the other. Tiny blades burst from the sphere as it suddenly began to escape the forks grip.

“where did you find this?” Philip asked. “ummm… maybe your dad knows something.”

‘ _well- ‘_

As if on cue, Marvin, holding a tablet and stacks of Paper on top of his open laptop, entered from the room along the hall, kicking the office door closed behind him. “I really need to figure out how to make better Wi-Fi.” He grumbled, dropping it all down on the counter, “hi Philip, what are you- “

His face suddenly went pale as he saw the sphere.

“Jason, where did you find this?” He asked, tone urgent and cold. He already had the phone pressed to his ear, fingers moving at rapid speed.

‘ _nowhere.’_ Jason signed, ‘ _unless you get me something.’_

“Jesus Christ kid, you are not fucking extorting me right now.” He grumbled, his phone continuing to ring as he kept declining the calls.

‘ _one thing._ ’ Jason teased, eyes wide and innocent.

Marvin sighed, “name your price.”

‘ _half a mil to a charity of my choosing.’_

“m’kay, how about one mil split between two different charities if you tell me e _verything._ ” Marvin made a large gesture with his arms “this ain’t my first rodeo kid.”

_‘fine’_ Jason said, folding his arms over his chest, ‘ _I dug it out of my stomach.’_

“oh my god- “Philip interrupted “-that’s fucking gross man.”

“Jason!” Marvin exclaimed “why would you choose to hurt yourself; do you need to talk to anyone, a psychiatrist?”

Jason rolled his eyes but was slightly happy that his Father was beginning to care about him, ‘ _I’m fine. The bullet wound just wasn’t healing, they always heal, watch this!’ _

He grabbed a steak knife from the side, wincing as he cut his pinkie, showing Marvin and Philip as it quickly closed up.

“wow.” Philip muttered under his breath quietly, lightly stroking the small scar that now was there on Jason’s finger. Suddenly, their eyes met as the electricity pulsed between them, Jason’s eyes widening as he felt the fluttering breath of Philip on his cheek.

The moment broke as Marvin began to speak “how did you know it wasn’t healing fast enough?”

‘ _I just did some basic calculations, a cut that’s a centimetre cubed took twenty seconds to fully heal, I checked other depths and widths to see if there was a constant, and I found one.’_ Jason signed quickly, not wanting to bore the pair with the details, ‘ _I figured that something was wrong when it still hurt like a bitch a month later. So, I dug through it a bit, and found this.’_

Marvin got up, pocketing the small ball and began pacing around the apartment, “this isn’t right, there shouldn’t be any more of them left.”

“what?” Philip asked, catching the words Marvin muttered to himself.

‘ _any more left?’_

But Marvin was already on the phone, it ringing once before instantly being picked up, “get over here.” He covered the speaker before turning back to Philip and Jason, “you two, come with me.” He lifted the phone back up to his ear, “yes, I know… yes I know… this is urgent… how urgent is urgent?” he asked sarcastically, “code red dummy.”

He hung up, quickly pacing to the elevator, Philip and Jason following behind, Jason’s injury almost being fully healed after he had performed his own surgery, but still using the crutches as he struggled to keep up with them. Marvin was already calling someone else as the elevator went down “this may have been yours I’m not sure but it’s a- “

The doors dinged open and there stood Whizzer, phone up to his ear and Abbie Jean next to him. They quickly entered as Marvin hung up the phone “-code red.” He finished.

“describe it.” Whizzer said as he swiftly closed the doors, pressing the button to the lobby.

“spherical, blades that retract when touched…”

“you need to get it under a high-resolution camera, I sign all my work.” Whizzer said, tapping on the iPad in his hand, “any of these familiar?” he asked, swiping through a couple of photos.

“not sure, but I need to speak with Charlotte first, get the x-rays.”

Whizzer nodded.

‘ _what the fuck is going on here?’_ Jason signed, a bewildered look on his face and the elevator stopped, opening as they all stared out at the empty lobby, an expectant silence.

“what are we doing?” Philip whispered.

“waiting.” Whizzer replied

“waiting for whom?”  
  


The large glass doors opened as Charlotte hurried in, still wearing her medical coat. She ran to join them in the elevator yelling “hold the doors!” as she fell into the lift. “right, I’m on my break and there was a gas leak downtown, make this snappy.”

Marvin flipped open the emergency stop button’s plastic cage as the doors closed, pressing the button in a specific sequence. Suddenly the elevator jolted, causing Jason, Philip and Abbie Jean to cling on to each other, frightened as the three adults were unphased, talking urgently between themselves. The elevator moved horizontally, and suddenly the dull metal sides flickered, and they were now surrounded in plexiglass. The kids pushed themselves up against the glass and they all gawked at the view.

A huge open space even Jason had never seen before, high ceilings made of glass, stories up being the only thing separating each floor. ‘ _what the fuck?’_ Jason mouthed as they zoomed down, lower than the carpark as they neared the floor labelled negative sixteen on the tiny screen above the doors. From so high up, it seemed like swarms of ants were running back and forth, hectic in their actions, but as they zoomed closer, Jason noticed that they were hundreds and hundreds of workers, each of them mass producing products and weapons that Jason couldn’t even imagine in his wildest dreams.

The elevator hit the floor, and almost instantly, all of the bustling and rushing stopped as the workers all stared at them, the door opening to the brilliant white floors that seemed to outstretch for miles.

As soon as they saw Marvin, they swarmed, updating him on everything going on as they separated the adults from the teenagers forcing them to try and push their way back into the group. They followed the herd, jaws dropping at the view of the large machines that looked other worldly and finally they made it through the loud room, to a much smaller conference room, a large glass table in the centre with holograms displaying the Feldman industries logo. Jason, Abbie Jean and Philip were the last to enter, standing on the very edge of the room as all of the chairs were taken up.

“We found one.” Marvin addressed the congress of the many men and Women, quickly taking the small ball out of the handkerchief and placed it on the table. He put his hand up, swiping the hologram and suddenly a large three-dimensional projection of the sphere was in the centre of the table. “Doctor.” He said Charlotte’s title as he gestured to her.

Charlotte stood up, commanding the room in a way even Marvin couldn’t as she shed her white lab coat. She placed her large bag on the table. “exactly thirty-four days ago I performed emergency surgery on a persons who had been shot. I removed the bullet at home before transporting the individual to the hospital where they underwent several other lifesaving medical procedures due to the nature of how incredulous the circumstances were.”

At the edge of the room, Philip reached out his hand, squeezing Jason’s to comfort him.

“here were the x rays from when I first transported said individual to the hospital.”

Charlotte rooted through her bag, pulling out several different thin plastic sheets. She put the first one forward, Marvin clapping several times causing the lights to go out before tapping beneath the table, it suddenly lighting up, showing the x rays.

Charlotte gestured to certain parts of the x-ray, “this is the individuals stomach- “she hovered her finger lightly above the image as to not get grease on it, “-and this is the cardiac sphincter, notice how there are tiny shards of bullet embedded within it? These would be almost impossible to remove without upsetting the mucus balance that protects the the stomach lining.”

She spread out the other two x-rays, circling other parts of them as everyone leaned in, trying to get a good look at the inside of Jason’s stomach.

“several days ago, a second one was taken before the individual was released from the hospital, note how the damage has majorly rescinded except for this area here that seems to be a hollowed-out circle. I blamed this on a mutation in the patients healing protocol caused by the fact that they are- “She glanced over to Marvin who nodded, “-spiderman. A mutation caused by a radioactive spider bite. I was, in fact, wrong. this was where the biokinetic tracer was found.” She sat down again, nodding to Marvin.

“we need to be on a high look out for these- “Marvin explained, clapping as the lights turned back on “-this is the first one that has surfaced since they were stolen, Mr Brown.”

Whizzer stood up, hands on his hips, “I designed these exactly four years ago, we made six in total before we decided they were too lethal to continue producing, very shortly after this, they were all stolen before we had the chance to destroy them.”

From across the room, leaning against the wall, a man raised his hand

“yes?”

“how were you planning on destroying them?” He asked, letting his hand fall back down to his side.

Whizzer smiled courteously if not slightly irritated by the interruption, before replying “in their state, it is almost impossible to eradicate them fully. we had planned a very arduous process, destroying it section by section, layer by layer until only its radioactive core remained. The cores would have been placed in a new compound that Marv- “Whizzer smiled slightly as he corrected himself “-Mr Feldman made that was over half the density of the concrete that covers Chernobyl, yet three times more effective. May I continue?” he added, a slight passive aggressive nature to his voice.

The man nodded, and Whizzer quickly typed something into his iPad, projecting the 3-D map up into the air.

“since part of their function was related to tracking, even though they were disarmed by us, they were turned on a month ago, the same time spiderman was shot. We hacked into their system, but we were unable to find any trace of a location, although since then- “he zoomed in on the map of Manhattan, three, red glowing mini orbs floating above the skyline “- they’ve turned on three of them.”

A women in the centre of the table next to Whizzer interrupted, “are you worried that they’re tracking the one you’ve got here?”

Whizzer looked to Marvin, who nodded, taking control again. “we found out that this one was here exactly- “he checked his watch “nineteen minutes ago, since then we came to the conclusion that it would be best if we did not turn it off to arouse suspicion. This is alarming for several reasons, we are now following all tier four safety procedures, yet are to look from the outside as though everything is functioning normally. Someone on the inside is in on this, so only those of you in this room have a high enough security clearance to begin enforcing these protocols without telling anyone the reason why. The second reason why I am concerned, is that whoever shot spiderman, knows who he is. His identity will remain sealed even to those in this room as we do not want to put his life in jeopardy.”

“Mr Feldman has made an excellent and difficult judgment for the position that we are in.” Whizzer continued, “now, some of you may be wondering what this- “

“-why are there Children in here?” A voice interrupted from behind Whizzer, something ever so slightly familiar about it. Whizzer spun around, eyes narrowing from the interruption before they widened, and he blinked several times, trying to place this man’s face.

He didn’t know how, but he recognised him. This seventy ish year old man.

It hit him dead in the stomach as he realised.

He froze as the same catty smile flashed across his face, the same one after he would give Whizzer the cigarette when they were in bed, the same one when he got mad and forced Whizzer to scrub the floors clean, the same one when they first met, and he offered Whizzer a lift home.

Whizzer swallowed and tried to maintain his composure, Jaw tight and his breathing beginning to go shaky as he felt the dread pool in his stomach like a whirlpool, making him go as white as a sheet.

“That is my son Mr…” Whizzer couldn’t hear Marvin speak anymore as he watched the man’s smile curdle into the frown that was so much more familiar, the slightest hint of smugness to see Whizzer squirm in fear.

Because the part of his and Whizzer’s relationship he got off on was the fear.

“Mr brown? -“

“huh?” Whizzer couldn’t take his eyes off of him, it was like a car crash, knowing he would regret watching the mangled bodies later, but that would be later.

“continue.” Marvin said firmly, the tiniest bit of fear in his own eyes as he watched the expression on Whizzer’s face.

Whizzer tore his eyes away, “-I… uh- “no longer was he in control of the room, instead he was panicking, not sure what he was saying, losing his train of thought “-these tracker things can… can um detonate. This means that… that they can plant radioactive stuff in the umm…” He looked to Marvin, letting him know something was wrong “I’m sorry, can I have a moment?” He said, wiping his eyes, forcing them to stay dry.

Marvin wiped the confused look from his face and nodded, “I’ll take over.” He said, standing up and continuing the presentation.

But all whizzer could hear was the chant of ‘do not cry, do not cry, do not cry’ in his head as he stared at the man’s reflection in the glass. He tapped nervously on the table, trying not to let his presence affect him before he looked over to his daughter. Looking at her oblivious expression as she watched Marvin. Abbie Jean was a spitting image her mother, her skin flawless and a brown colour that was lighter than Lana’s was. _Was._ She was so strong, he thought to himself, not even a year had passed since her mother had, and she was somehow managing to piece together her cracked life. He could sometimes hear her crying when she thought she was alone, but he didn’t want to disturb her, knowing it was imperative to let her grieve in her own way. The only difference in her looks to her mother’s was the almost blue colour of her hair, the same colour Whizzer’s used to be before he decided to re-invent himself when he ran away from his home to avoid the man.

And now he had found him.

“okay everyone. This is in part of your contract, so you are under strict instruction to not say a word of this to anyone outside of this room or I will sue your ass. Mr Brown, Doctor, kids, please stay, everyone else, you may leave.”

Whizzer almost felt his own relief echoing through the room as Marvin said it, but that was before he felt the stale breath on the back of his neck, and the hands clench at his shoulders. The man’s voice dropped to a low whisper as he spoke, “it’s a pity you gained weight.” Whizzer didn’t dare move, not even to let out a breath and he tried to think of Marvin telling him he loved him, “do you want a cigarette?”

“I quit.” Whizzer replied quietly, too quiet that it was perceived as submission, so quiet it wasn’t even a voice but a breath, like the whisper of the wind.

“take one anyway.” The man said, slipping one out of its package and into the blue suit’s breast pocket, his touch making Whizzer recoil as his strong hands held him in place.

He was gone as though he were smoke, and Whizzer finally exhaled, watching as everyone filed out, chattering amongst themselves until the room was left in silence with just the six of them.

Marvin turned to him, “what the fuck was that about Whizzer?” He asked, and suddenly Whizzer threw the suit jacket off of himself and onto the floor, gagging as he held a hand over his mouth. He ran to the corner, throwing up in a potted plant, and Marvin was by his side instantly, stroking his arm, “I’m sorry!” he said, panicky, “are you alright?”

“just peachy” Whizzer grumbled, “I’ll tell you later.” He added, standing upright. The taste in his mouth was almost enough to make him want to be sick again, but the worst part was his smell, his smell that clung onto Whizzer, the musty cobwebs and cigarettes that Whizzer never wanted to smell again.

“I’m serious Whiz, what’s wrong?”

“I’ll tell you later.” Whizzer replied through gritted teeth as he made a slight gesture with his head towards the children.

“okay. I love you.” Marvin said, a small smile on his face as he leant in to kiss Whizzer, who dodged him.

“No Marv, I taste of sick, nooo…” He was cut off by a stealthy peck on the lips and he smiled, a worn, tired smile “love you too.” But it was genuine none the less.

Marvin let go of Whizzer, facing the rest of them, “okay, Jason, we need to go over some things and- “

Jason began to sign on top of him ‘ _WHAT THE HELL! Why didn’t you tell me any of this stuff, also I’ve lived here my entire life and have never seen half of the building? How!? Also, YOU DESIGNED THE THING THAT WAS KILLING ME FROM THE INSIDE OUT?’_

“technically… yes.” Marvin replied, “but you can’t get pissed, I didn’t know this was going to happen!”

“I’m so confused.” Philip interrupted, putting a hand up to his head as he rubbed his temples.

‘ _but what is this thing?’_ Abbie Jean signed as she approached the conference table, looking closely at the Sphere. ‘ _and why did we need to be here?’_

“You both needed to be here, because you both know that Jason’s spiderman.” They all suddenly glanced at Jason, except Whizzer who wasn’t paying any attention at all and was instead biting at his nails. “and this- “Marvin stared at the hologram which had appeared again, “-this is most dangerous thing I ever made.”

“but it’s so tiny and cute.” Philip said, smiling cutely as he thought about it.

Marvin rolled his eyes, “it was initially meant to be a tracker- “

‘ _initially?’_ Jason asked.

Whizzer’s voice was quiet in the corner of the room, “then Donald fucking Trump got his hands on it.” He said, voice sharper than a knife.

“He offered me a lot of money and time to research his ‘improvements’. He wanted a tracker for all people living in the USA, but with new features no other tracker had. I declined his offer because a police state is not the kind of world I’d like to live in.”

‘ _but?’_ Jason sighed.

“how’d you know there’s a but?”

‘ _trust me pip. There’s always a but.’_

“but- “

‘ _told you!’_ Jason interrupted, causing Marvin to clench his jaw at them.

“but- “Whizzer looked up as he took over, sucking at his bleeding finger from where his nail had been torn “-Marvin decided that it was a great time to sleep with a prostitute working for Trump.” Whizzer said sarcastically “he extorted Marvin, telling him he would release the photos of them in a bar…”

“She was a well-known escort within the political world!” Marvin interjected, “Trump did not _own_ her. But Whizzer designed them, I made six before I realised it was a bad idea.”

“that was his third sex scandal.” Whizzer rolled his eyes “Trump released the photos, but his lawyers basically got him out of it, they couldn’t prove Marvin had actually slept with the woman, and we decided to destroy them.”

“then they were stolen.” Marvin finished.

‘ _from here?’_ Abbie Jean asked, taking a glance out of the windows at the production lines.

Marvin shrugged, “from here.”

“which means it was someone on the inside.” Charlotte finally spoke, packing the X rays back into the satchel. “I need to go- “She said, “Delia’s waiting in the car and I didn’t leave the window cracked.” She joked, smiling at Whizzer who looked up suddenly, confused.

“did you ask me something?” He said, blinking heavily.

Marvin cocked his head, “you alright Whizzer, you seem… distracted.” He said, trying to understand where the fear on his face was coming from.

Whizzer nodded, picking up his jacket from the floor and strutting out of the room. Marvin scooped up the tiny tracker, putting it back into the handkerchief and into his pocket.

_‘but what makes it different to a normal tracker?’_ Abbie Jean asked as the group exited the conference room, suddenly entering the the cacophony that was the factory floor.

“the radioactive core can release toxins into the body bit by bit or overload it, causing a fast or incredibly slow ‘natural’ looking death. Once in the body, it’s also almost impossible to remove without dying- “Marvin looked over to Jason”- that’s why you were an idiot.”

Jason limped on his crutches, rolling his eyes as he caught up with them.

“It’s not just that- “Whizzer continued, looking incredibly skittish as he couldn’t keep his eyes forward, peering around every machine. “-it’s almost untraceable, doesn’t show up on scanners or on x rays, and up until a month ago, we thought they were un hackable.”

Jason tapped on Philip’s shoulder, signing something, “Jason wants to know what you’re going to do about this.” He translated, Jason nodding as AJ looked at him.

“nothing right now.” Whizzer replied anxiously as he pressed the elevator button several times, looking back over his shoulder. The doors opened and he let out a sharp breath of relief, dropping the bright blue jacket into the bin next to the elevator before stepping in, quickly closing the doors straight away with the button and opening the emergency stop hatch again and the lift flickered back to the usual gunmetal grey.

“I thought you loved that jacket.” Marvin whispered to Whizzer.

Whizzer ignored him, “They’ve got something big planned. I don’t know who _they_ are, but it’s been in motion for at least four years.” He swallowed, “we need to catch up with them before we can outsmart them.”

Marvin leant on Whizzer as he tried thinking, “god, I don’t like not knowing. This never happens.” He whispered so only Whizzer could hear.

But Whizzer was inside his own head, trying to build an escape plan as the elevator jolted upwards, the only noise being the metal wires that hauled them up. The lift stopped and made a ‘Bing’ as the doors opened, Charlotte getting out, and Philip following.

“I need to go.” Philip directed to Abbie Jean and Jason, “bye AJ.” He said, waving to her, “bye Jason.”

There was an awkwardness in the air as they stared into each other’s eyes, Philip’s hand moving to the back of his neck, rubbing it as he blushed.

“umm, alright.” He said, a small smile on his face.

“bye Pip.” Jason whispered as the doors slid closed, finally forcing them to break eye contact.

“Jason?” Marvin said, causing him to turn around.

‘ _what?’_

“you just spoke.”

_‘Yeah, I can I just don’t want to.’_ Jason signed shrugging slightly, ‘ _wanna hang AJ?’_

_‘I have a shit tonne of homework, but do I really wanna kid myself into saying that I’ll do It.’_ Abbie Jean made a face, weighing her options _‘yeah, stay at mine, it’s closer’_

“you two are the reason teenagers get labelled lazy.” Marvin laughed as the elevator stopped on Whizzer and Abbie Jeans floor, watching as the remaining children got out. “Whizzer, what happened in there?”

Before the doors had even closed, Whizzer had a hand around Marvin’s neck, choking him as he pulled him into a kiss, unbuttoning Marvin’s pants with the other hand. He sank to the floor, giving up on the buttons and instead just pulled them off, his other hand reaching up to grab at Marvin’s chest, pushing against the back wall of the elevator.

“whizz- “Marvin managed out between groans and heavy breaths, “I thought- you were going… going to tell me- “

Whizzer suddenly enveloped Marvin’s cock in his mouth and Marvin forgot what he was saying as he pushed Whizzer off of him, causing him to topple to the floor, and held him spread eagle against the hard tiles as he wrapped both his hands around Whizzer’s neck, “don’t test me.” He said as he pushed his knee hard onto Whizzer’s crotch as he squirmed beneath him, gasping for air “and don’t _ever_ try to dominate me.”

Whizzer smirked suddenly, before the bored, innocent look returned as per usual, and Marvin lost it as he ripped his clothes off.

Sometimes it’s easier not saying goodbye, Whizzer thought to himself, the pressure behind his eyelids giving way as Marvin thrusted into him.


	24. chapter 24: Abbie Jeans lament

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> not going to lie to you, I just had to include a 1st person perspective bc they're so much fun to write 
> 
> also, we haven't heard much about Abbie Jean so here we are.
> 
> I'm so sorry if you're an American reading this, I'm keeping my fingers crossed for y'all but you never know. In better news, this is written directly after the previous chapter (it's slightly confusing sozzers)

There’s something poetic and broken about my Dad and I don’t think anyone’s ever seen it before. Looks can be deceiving and in his case, where he looks so perfect and put together, I don’t think anyone’s seen him cry other than me.

I learnt a long time ago that what’s unsaid is more important than what’s said. People bring their guard down around me because I’m the girl whose mute, I’m the girl who can’t tell anyone their secrets. They underestimate me.

But I don’t think I’ve been correctly estimated my entire life.

My Mama told me the truth about my Dad when I was little, and I think I’ll always thank her for that. She told me that I wasn’t meant to be on this earth, but I was the best thing that happened to her. She told me that his name was Whizzer, and that he was handsome in an almost angelic way. That he held a halo above his head and when he smiled, the bleak room would turn golden, and he could always hold the attention of everyone.

She also told me he didn’t know about me yet, but one day he would and one day he would love me.

She was plucked from the earth far too soon. We travelled a lot because of her job, she was a consultant for a very rich guy, he would ask her to go to new galleries across the world, pick out paintings and sculptures of all kinds that she believed would make money in a few years. We went almost everywhere, Europe, Australia, Africa, and everywhere we went she would teach me about their cultures and their art.

Marvin underestimates Whizzer. He’s much smarter, much, much smarter.

My childhood was a mess of different cultures, but in the best way possible. Like the way a Jackson Pollak piece somehow can fit perfectly into any room. She taught me about her heritage, taught me about how important my hair was to our culture. But she also taught me some Jewish values, knowing that even though Whizzer didn’t practice the religion, it was important I knew where I came from.

And as she always reminded me, it was from a place of love.

My heart breaks every time I think of her final trip because I begged and begged to go with her. I had school work that I wanted to get out of, but she refused, leaving me home alone, and like any teenager left home alone, I hosted a party to spite her.

It wasn’t major, I never really had close friends, but I texted a couple of people about it, and they invited their close friends, and they invited theirs and theirs and theirs. My mum got a call as she made it to the airport, my neighbour complaining about the noise.

What a fucking hypocrite.

She left me a voicemail that she was coming home.

Then the taxi was hit by a drunk driver.

My heart breaks every time I think of her final trip because it’s my fault she’s dead. It’s simple and honest that way. I’m the reason my Mama’s dead.

The first time I met Whizzer I was sitting in a police precinct, drunk and destroyed inside, listening to the voicemail over and over again, in shock as this dark, hollow hole opened up in my chest.

I didn’t notice him walk into the room. I didn’t notice him speaking to the desk sergeant.

But he tapped me on the shoulder and in my intoxicated state, I thought he was an angel sent to take me too, relieved that I would be with her again, until he said, “I’m Whizzer.” And all my mama’s stories flooded back.

Whizzer was so very careful in the beginning, not touching me at all, speaking to me with a toned-down, quiet version of his voice and I don’t know, but he seemed to pretend he was straight. He didn’t have any personal belongings in his apartment, and I couldn’t read him at all.

The things I learnt about him, I learnt from google and from when Marvin came over and he finally slept.

I was suddenly shaken awake in the middle of the night by Whizzer, bolting upright, eyes filled with fear before I recognised him. My vision was blurry, and I tried rubbing the sleep out of my eyes.

He put a finger to his lips as I struggled slightly, the sound of covers thrashing before he pointed next to me.

Crap, Jason. I had forgotten about him.

We laid in bed the night before watching television and I guess we had fallen asleep as he played with my hair, talking. He had talked for the first time in a while to me, but that was after I had given him an edible. He only talked about Philip.

Philip this, Philip that.

I can’t help but love him, he was the only one who could understand me after mama died, he was sweet and soft, but damn did that boy have a nice ass. I don’t really love him, I mean I do, but It’s more of a circumstance thing.

It’s weird. Our parents our dating.

I also think him, and Pip are perfect, I’ll get over this, but for the time being, I’ll enjoy sleeping with my head pressed against his chest sometimes.

‘ _we need to go’_ Whizzer signed before gesturing to the suitcase on the floor.

I furrowed my eyebrows, ‘ _go where?’_ I asked as I watched him kneel on the floor next to my bed. He looked down, placing a gentle hand on my curled-up leg over the cover. In the low light coming from the honey coloured crack in the door, I could see Whizzer looking older than his age for a change, I could see the cracks in his mask, I could see into his soul, his poetic and broken soul.

I could see him shaking, silent tears rolling down his face, ‘ _we need to leave for a bit.’_

 _‘why?’_ I asked, reaching a hand out to wipe away his tears, if he didn’t stop crying then I would start to.

He caught my hand and looked down as he clutched at it, shaking it up and down before looking back to me. ‘ _because someone’s come to find me’_ the tears welled up in his eyes again and he got up, ‘ _we need to go.’_

He left swiftly and I silently got out of bed, checking my phone, three am. My feet pattered daintily against the floor as I tiptoed to my closet, opening it.

Nothing. Whizzer had packed it all.

I stripped down to my underwear, rooting in the suitcase for a hoodie and tracksuit bottoms. Perfectly folded, Whizzer was type A in that sense.

“where you goin’?”

I turned, startled by the drowsy voice coming from my bed. I was too tired to cover myself, ‘ _I’m just going to the roof, need some time alone.’_ I lied

“did you sleep?” Jason whispered, propping himself up onto his elbows. Watching as I pulled on the too big black hoodie I stole from him when he was in the hospital.

‘ _a little’_ I smiled, pulling up the sweatpants, and tying up my hair, ‘ _go back to sleep.’_ I signed, going back to my bed and stroking his hair. He fell asleep almost instantly and I watched for a moment before Whizzer came back in.

‘ _we need to go.’_

I was still so confused, but picked up the suitcase, quietly padding out of the room, closing the door softly behind me. My bare feet made a slapping noise against the tiled floors, it was humid, and it was shockingly empty, everything gone as if we were never there.

“got everything?” Whizzer whispered.

‘ _how long are we going to be gone for?’_ I asked, jaw wide open as I stared at the emptiness.

“we’re not coming back for a while, kid.” He said, lip trembling.

I blinked, not understanding, _‘you told Marvin, right?’_ He looked away, pressing the button for the elevator, ‘ _right?’_

“we need to go.” His voice was so quiet it wasn’t there, instead a whisp of hair gracing your face as you float on top of a pool of water. Distracting me from the question.

He stepped into the elevator, holding his own suitcase as I followed, seeing the new marks on his neck and chest, knowing he hadn’t told Marvin. He seemed to have no shame as I stared at them, instead he was jittery, bouncing his leg up and down as he looked skywards.

He had been on edge since the meeting.

As the door opened on the carpark, he stepped out, taking a brief look side to side before he hastily walked behind the cars, weaving his way through them until he reached his, me quickly going around to the passenger’s side.

It seemed almost like a horror movie as I heard the distinctive unlocking of his car and then his gasp. My head snapped up, but I didn’t understand. An old man, a sweet old man was standing there, a couple of metres away from Whizzer.

‘ _Whizzer?’_

“get in the car.” He snapped, and I instantly complied, sitting in it, trying to hear the low voices as I slammed the door shut.

I could hear the hiss of my Dad’s voice and the low gravel of the other man’s, distinctive words jumping out from the mess of their overlapping voices.

“stay back- “I could see Whizzer’s finger outstretched into a firm point, slapping at the other man’s arm as he put in out to touch Whizzer. “-I’m not a child anymore.”

“but you’re still one inside.”

“do not tell me what I am. I’ll tell the cops; it was statutory rape and you know it.” I froze as I heard the word rape, looking back at my Dad through the windscreen as he backed away from the man. “I was too afraid to at the time, but I’m not anymore. It was abuse.”

“it was also over five years ago and you have no proof.”

“why are you here? How did you find me?”

“you were on the news.” I could see Whizzer’s realisation sprout onto his face before he clenched his jaw, his one big mistake. “I’m here for cash.”

“what?”

“You pay me, and it will keep you and your daughter, Abbie Jean, safe.” I felt the dread pool in my stomach as he said my name and I instantly understood why Whizzer had woken me up at three am to whisk us away.

This man knew who I was, he knew where we lived.

I watched my Dad flinch as the man rooted through his pocket, taking out a phone instead of the weapon we both assumed he was carrying. He pressed some buttons on the old blackberry, squinting at the screen and suddenly held out the phone to Whizzer.

I couldn’t see what was on the screen, but suddenly Whizzer went pale and he glanced over to me as I looked down to avoid his eye contact. I could see his grip tighten on the suitcase as his jaw clenched. He switched hands on the suitcase, passing it from hand to hand, taking one final look at me, before he swung the suitcase hard at the man, hitting him painfully on the side of the head as he fell to the floor, his intimidation gone as he was left as a feeble old man on a parking lot floor.

Whizzer ran, throwing the suitcase into my open arms as he flung the door open, diving in and pulling the car into drive. He reversed out of the lot, speeding up the ramp and out of the building, the car revving loudly as he pushed the peddle down to the floor.

He kept his eyes ahead and I couldn’t do anything but sit there, wondering.

We got to the airport and everything was a blur, Whizzer pushing me through security, paying for tickets to somewhere I’d never heard of before.

The flight was long, and Whizzer didn’t stop moving until we got to the next airport. We ran to the front desk, buying another ticket and for the first time, he stopped.

He handed me a passport, but this one was a dark red, not my passport.

“you’re Rosa, alright.” He whispered, and I opened it, it was different to my normal ones, not the usual blue, not the usual information. Instead it was a different version of Me, she looked the same, but she was from England, born a year later.

I stared up at him ‘ _why do we need to do this?’_

“He has people in high places, follow me.”

He set off again and three flights later, I was wearing a wig and different clothing, a whole new person. The air was humid as we finally exited an airport for the first time in almost four days, I wasn’t sure where we were, too tired, too confused, smelling odd and finally I was able to take a breath.

But whizzer was already carting me out, and I stared at the flocks of people, following him to a tiny car rental place where he spoke in fluent French to a very clean cut, handsome man wearing expensive cufflinks who instantly took us to a back room. We stood in the doorway before being pushed inside, Whizzer holding me behind him as he spoke, this time in English.

“I need to disappear.”

Only the top of the man’s head could be seen over the chair, and suddenly he turned.

“you could’ve talked to me first.”

My jaw dropped to the floor. Marvin was sitting there, his curly, unkempt hair even worse than usual, messier. His usual tired look had been replaced by one of stone-cold anger, the hollow bags under them making him resemble a skeleton.

Startled, Whizzer began to defend himself “Marv, you don’t know what- “

Marvin interrupted “Of course I knew Whizzer.” He said, shaking, “of course I fucking knew. I saw your reaction to him, I figured It out. It was him, the man from when you were sixteen.”

Suddenly I saw my Dad break down into a tiny mess, his face crumbling and he fell apart. “he was- he came I wanted- I… I…” His words were broken with sobs, blubbering nonsense and I wiped my face as I felt my own tears build up, trying to keep them from spilling out of my eyes.

Marvin stood up, and for a moment I thought he was going to hit my dad, his face colder than the iced tea on the mahogany desk. He tapped at the table, dragging his fingernails against it as he circled, reaching around to Whizzer, jaw clenched and stopped.

“whiz, I love you- “He embraced Whizzer, tucking him under his chin and he dropped the suitcase “and I still trust you even though you travelled half way across the world without telling me, so please, just talk to me.”

“how did you find us?”

Marvin giggled softly, “of course I was able to find you baby, I made the security systems for most of the countries you went to.”

“but… but- “My dad was still shaking in Marvin’s arms, finally breaking “he has- he has pictures of Abbie Jean at school… and- and he threatened to hurt her. I can’t lose her.” He wept, ugly for a change and I felt the single cold shock through my system.

“okay, I’ll take care of it Whiz.”

I’ll never know how Marvin ‘took care’ of the situation, I had my doubts about it being legal, but it made me wonder.

Maybe Marvin isn’t the big hero saving the world by looking after the environment and risking his life by becoming iron man.

Maybe Marvin is the anti-hero.

Maybe Marvin is a junkie.

Maybe Marvin is the person who has enough power to be whoever he wants but enjoys the bad slightly too much. Who doesn’t save the world for the world, but who saves the world for himself to stop the urge to switch sides.

Maybe Marvin enjoys the feeling of crushing a bad man’s skull under his foot a little too much…


	25. chapter 25: jump.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> gorgeous

Chapter 25: jump

The middle of the night always has a gentle kind of charm or an edge.

There are the starry nights, the nights where the air is thick with the threat of thunder, and there’s a warmth that’s comforting.

Or there’s the edge. The knife blade in the sky ready shatter the city, every little noise causing you to startle, head snapping around and heart pounding until you scuttle home to the safety of your own bed.

Jason loved the first kind of night, loved the starry kind of night where it was humid enough for him to go out shirtless.

The moonlight left a skinny slither of light across his pillow. Jason stirred; his eyes clenched closed as he tried to pretend it wasn’t there. Unfortunately it was no use, and Jason sat upright, huffing at the gap in his curtains. He got up, sliding out of the bed, and walked across the wooden floor to the large bay window, sitting on the cushioned window seat. For a second, a chill ran through his body, a chill he didn’t really know what the reason for it was.

He drew the curtains closed.

As he got up again, he caught a brief glimpse of himself in the floor-length mirror and he scowled at the scar, the pink fleshy scar on his abdomen. He tensed his abs, watching how it rippled with his muscles and gently brought a finger down to trace it, it didn’t hurt that much anymore. He knew the reason he was awake, back to high school tomorrow, back to that hell hole where he only had a couple of _real_ friends.

Whizzer had taken AJ out of Jason and Philip’s school after their whole caper, enrolling her in a stuffy private school she hated. Jason missed her; she was always light, easy to talk to.

He wasn’t sure what had happened that night, only that Abbie Jean had lied and that about a week later, she and Whizzer returned back home, a little worse for wear, but Whizzer and Marvin seemed to be better.

_Better_. Not perfect, they still fought, they still degraded each other. They still used their fights as foreplay, but Whizzer would stay with Marvin after sex, Marvin would cook the pair dinner sometimes.

And from across the room, no matter whether it was during a press conference or when they both were sat silently at the dining room table, working, there could always be a second where they stopped, and at the same time just look to the other, the warmth and comfort radiating from them as the glowing smiles crept onto their faces.

Love.

It was weird for Jason at first, having three people who wanted to be his father when he didn’t even have one for the first sixteen years of his life. It was also weird seeing love. his mother had always described it to him, she was a hopeless romantic who married a heartless prick. But now It was weird, coming home to find his mom and Mendel in the kitchen, flour everywhere and guilty looks on their faces when they saw him.

‘Don’t ask’ was Jason’s new motto.

It was the same when he went to his Dad’s, although they weren’t as subtle. Also they were into some weird kinky shit, so he took the liberty to sleep at AJ’s most nights. It wasn’t unusual for him, even when his parents were together, he would make up a pile of blankets the floor below if they were fighting, sitting on the floor in the large empty room and wondering what it would be like to live on his own.

Jason sighed, he wouldn’t be able to sleep now, and padded silently over to his closet, gently opening it as he tapped his foot on the ground.

His forehead furrowed and eyebrows pressed together as he saw the briefcase, he didn’t own a briefcase. He took a second, picking it up and dropped it down onto his bed, unlatching the clips on the front. It sprung open, a stand appearing with a suit, a red and black skin tight suit.

Jason gasped, gently touching the fabric, it had an odd texture, as though tiny shields were sewed together, quickly he took it off of the stand, “this is too big” He said to himself, a small frown on his face. He just pulled on the suit, stepping into it and tried to pull it up, struggling as it stuck slightly to his dewy skin. He did a turn in the mirror, the baggy fabric pooling around his arms and feet. He stopped spinning as he saw the long trailing string sort of thing, attached to a small loop and zip like a wetsuit. He reached over his shoulder, trying so hard to reach the string, missing it several times. Finally he clasped at it, and as he yanked on it, suddenly the suit sucked in, skin tight, the string completely disappearing.

He smiled at himself in the mirror, squinting through the dimly lit room, admiring how the suit made him look contoured and muscly. He smiled a final time, going back to close the case, when he saw the red fabric at the bottom of it, picking it up. 

A tiny piece of paper fluttered to the floor and he bent over to pick it up, the suit was surprisingly breezy, he thought to himself as he unfolded the note.

_‘your mother would hate me for giving you this, but it’s my fault you got hurt in the first place. This is bullet proof, please kid, stay safe for me. I love you. Dad.’_ Jason smiled, feeling his chest tightening, before he put the note down, looking at the fabric in his hand.

A mask, a beautiful red mask, eye pieces that reminded him of a fly’s eyes. He put it over his head, and instantly it squished his hair down and his vision was enhanced. “oh damn.” He whispered to himself.

He turned to the window, but quickly remembered what he was forgetting, going to his bedside table and quietly sliding it open as he rooted inside.

His fingers clasped around the sphere and he pulled it out, grinning. “if you sons of bitches want to find me, then I’m not gonna stop you” he whispered, placing the tracker into the almost invisible pocket of the suit.

He took a delicate leap to the window, pulling at the wooden frame and suddenly the air was brushing his face. He paused, appreciating and romanticising it for a moment and a grin took over his face, letting him leap into the night.

As soon as his feet touched the floor, he felt as though he were floating, the impact not even affecting him, and he took off in a sprint, letting his lungs hurt as he enjoyed being alone for moment.

Alive.

As Spiderman, Jason could do anything, be anything, so he cracked his knuckles, and shot out a web as far into the distance as possible, yanking hard as he was drawn to where it had stuck.

He was streamlined and aerodynamic, everything going a fraction of the speed it normally went and his head turned to the side as the neon signs were bold and bright, more colourful than ever. His eyes widened with joy as the luminescence hypnotised him with its voodoo.

Then he slammed face first into a building.

Jason fell on his ass, staring up at where his webbing had attached to and giggled, maybe concussed, rubbing his head.

“hey spiderman-“ Jason turned, seeing a couple of teenagers, one with their phone out, the other two sipping red bull, “-got anything to say?” They laughed.

Jason peeled himself up off of the floor, “sorry, just came back from fuckin’ your mom.” He joked, “nah, I’m playin’.” He approached the kids, looking directly into the camera, “stay in school, don’t do drugs and use condoms even if you’re the Mohammed Ali of pulling out.” He winked, squatting before taking a huge leap into the air, landing a floor above on a bodega’s roof.

He recognised the area, knowing he was only a couple minutes away from Philip’s house, and glanced around, forgetting what time it was. He ran along the rooftops, leaping over chimneys and pretended he was playing subway surfers, making the sound effects before suddenly, he stopped.

Jason leapt down to the street, looking up at Philip’s bedroom, curtains drawn tightly shut.

“pip.” He hissed, not wanting to wake his parents, “Philip?” Upon receiving no reply, he began to root around at his feet, trying to find stones. He found one, closing an eye and aimed, tossing it at the window. It clattered loudly against the glass pane and Jason froze.

Nothing happened.

Jason sighed, flicking another stone at the window. This time he saw the shadowed figure painting the curtains, the eyes peeking out of the curtains. He saw Philip roll his eyes, opening a window before disappearing back into the room.

Jason scuttled to the wall, climbing up it quickly and sliding into the room. “hey.” He whispered.

“shhhh…” Philip replied, eyes fixed on his video game, headset on. “nah, just Jason.” He said into the microphone. 

“you look like a real fuckin’ nerd.” Jason whispered. “do you like my new suit?” he asked.

Pip tore his eyes away from the screen for a second, doing a double take as he saw how tight the fabric was. “shit.” He muttered as he died, “I’ll see you later.” He paused the game, taking off the headset.

“what were you playing?” Jason asked, never really one for video games.

“GTA, you look great man.” He replied, laughing as Jason did a little twirl.

“my dad made it; can you believe that?”

“kinda.”

There was a second of silence. There had been this awkward edge ever since the kiss. Jason had yet to find the letter Philip had left and was beginning to wonder if they made the right move or not.

“come on.”

“what?”

Jason put his hand out, “come on.” Philip looked him in the eye, “what, don’t you trust me?” He asked, raising an eyebrow that Philip couldn’t see under the mask. The challenging tone in his voice caused Philip to smirk and he took Jason’s gloved hand.

“if you drop me, I swear to god I will-“ He was cut short with a screech as Jason tossed Philip up into his arms and leapt out of the window.

“where do you wanna go?” Jason asked, swinging Philip around so he was clinging onto the side of his body, clutching tightly around his shoulders. He shot his webbing into the air and took a few more bounds forward.

“umm… “ Philip couldn’t piece together his words as his leg grazed Jason’s crotch, feeling the tense, rock hard muscles on Jason’s shoulders. “I don’t-“

Suddenly they were in the air, the weightless feeling in Philip’s stomach causing him to gasp, burying his head into Jason’s neck. The warm air suddenly became cool as they projected through the air swinging from building to building. They stopped in the middle of the city, Jason putting Philip down.

“what do you want?” He asked.

Philip staggered slightly to the side as the ground went woozy beneath his feet. “I- I um…” He looked slightly green and Jason giggled.

He ran up to a food truck, pointing to the menu as Pip watched. It was brighter when he was around Jason, he felt carefree, but sick and giddy at the same time. So terrified that he would mess things up, but the rush of butterflies in his stomach was like a drug, and he kept coming back for more.

“here. Got you a cinnamon churros!” Jason said, the grin bright on his face as he ran back to Philip, passing him one of the napkins.

They sidled around the street; Jason’s mask pulled up above his mouth as he kept huffing loudly at the smouldering food. Every now and again, stopping to take selfies with tourists, doing backflips to impress them.

“wait!” Jason stopped suddenly, “stay here.” Jason ran into the bodega they had stopped at, returning with a bouquet of flowers, “hold these.” He said, thrusting them into Philips hands.

Suddenly Jason took Philip in his arms again, smiling brightly and leapt up to the fire escape next to them, web shooting out to the building and he swung the pair forward, legs trailing behind as for a second they were stationary in the air at their apex. Jason swung them again, letting go of his web as he shot out another one, and they fell before he caught them again.

To Philip, who had tucked his head in the crook of Jason’s neck, the ride took forever, but really, a couple of minutes later, Jason was setting him down on a roof. Philip staggered, putting his arms out as he tried to steady himself.

“holy shit Jason.” He exclaimed as he caught his breath, “holy fucking shit.”

“guess where we are!” Jason said, balancing on the railing of a balcony. He pulled his mask off, holding a hand over his eyes to block out the brightness of the sun rising. He turned, his back lit shadow resembling an angel.

“I-“ Philip looked around, confused, mouth dropping open as it suddenly made sense, “-you brought me here?”

Jason smiled gently, “your parents couldn’t bring you, but I thought it was important.”

They were stood on one of the private balconies high up on the One World Trade Centre, the only rebuilt structure in the complex.

Tears built up in Philip’s eyes, “because of Eliza?” he asked.

Jason nodded, “yeah.”

Philip held his personal life very close to him, held his family close, they were things that not everyone needed to know about him.

His parents got together in college and stayed together. After Alexander became a lawyer, and John got his teaching degree, they decided it was the right time, and they wanted to have a child.

They put all their money into it, trying to find an egg donor. Then one of their closest friends from school offered to do it, Eliza, she offered them an egg and a womb. She was the one who set them up in the first place. Since Alexander had ADHD, he insisted that John was the one to give the sperm sample, and after a lot of arguments (John saying that they would love the kid no matter what, and Alexander saying he just wished the kid could have an easier life than he did) they ended up landing with John being the biological father.

Philip was born, healthy and already owning a full head of hair, just like John had and Eliza threw herself almost straight back into work. It hurt her more than she cared to admit, hurt her to give up the child she had carried for nine months, but she knew it wasn’t hers. So she struggled silently.

That morning, she could’ve survived.

John knew something was wrong with her and phoned her before she left for work. She was sharp and icy, very different from the calm, loving persona she usually had.

She was late for work that morning, but if she had just told john what was wrong she could have been later, much later.

In fact she wouldn’t have been in the building when the hijacked plane, aiming straight for the tower, took her and thousands more lives.

But she was and it did.

Philip looked up to Jason, who hopped off of the landing and put and arm around him, “thank you Jason.” He whispered, gently placing the flowers against the wall.

He stood up facing Jason, his windswept hair, his bright eyes and Pip smiled, the light creeping onto his face. “come on.” Jason replied quietly, but the slightly proud smile on his face couldn’t go a miss as he pulled on his mask again, reaching his hand out to Pip, “I’m taking you home.” He said.

Philip grabbed his hand, following Jason as he helped him up onto the balcony ledge.

Jason turned to him, his grip tightening around Philip’s waist sending shivers down his spine “jump.”


	26. chapter 26: nightmare child

Chapter 26: nightmare child

A virgin.

A staple of a man’s need to believe they can change someone’s life with their dick. 

Meaningless. 

When Marvin was in the army, he fell in love for the first time. He grew up alone, he grew up without a family and kept his head down, worked hard, earnt every penny he could. He got scholarship after scholarship yet still didn’t have enough money for college. 

He managed to survive a semester before he got kicked out, he got caught taking the deans daughter’s SATs. Marvin was left practically homeless, but the college didn’t even care that he was sleeping on the floor of his drug dealers apartment. The army seemed like the only option, his escape from the hotbox he was living in, so he signed up. 

He fell in love, he cried when he died, he pushed that part of him away, he cried, he got shot in the chest, he cried, he became depressed, he couldn’t cry, he lost his heart, he cried.

Then he got the grant money. It wasn’t much to begin with, a couple thousand dollars to make several more pacers for other veterans, but somehow his empire grew and grew and grew. 

He was in his early thirties at the point when the whole world had begun to know his name. 

Young, people would call him young, the youngest millionaire, soon becoming the youngest billionaire. But Marvin had seen horrors that most people hadn’t, he had lost his humanity, become a machine. He had watched the terror on a man’s face as the blood rushed through his fingers, knowing he didn’t have long left, he had watched the light disappear from a man’s eyes as the bullet from his own shaking hands had carved a hole into his forehead. He had memorised the metallic taste of someone else’s blood as the man he had sat next to at breakfast that morning was shot in the neck, spraying him with the thick red liquid as he held back the bile that had automatically welled up in his mouth. 

He had watched a child go lifeless in his arms after a fatal explosion had blown up her home. Her body was mangled and bloody, her legs gone and only her torso remained. She cried in Marvin’s arms as he tried to pull her from the wreckage and suddenly he couldn’t feel her shivering in his arm’s anymore. She was so small, not a human, a thing.

That was what broke Marvin. No longer was he a human being either, but instead a monster. A ruthless killing machine. A cesspool of fears and night terrors all hurled into a little ball. 

At its centre was a tiny glowing orb.

The faint sing song voice of a woman as she tucked him into his bed, he didn’t know if it was a memory, or just a story so faded that it felt real, but that was the only thing he remembered of her. His mother. It symbolised hope, never once being sucked up into the darkness, although coming far too close for his liking several times. 

Marvin never hired his own staff, not caring enough about who they were as people, they were just the drones who worked for him. 

Or at least that was how he thought he felt. 

She was stunning.

She had warm chestnut hair that bounced at her shoulders, a nineties blowout, making it look so soft and warm. She wore modest clothing, nothing ever revealing, nothing spectacular, but even so, she caught his eye. 

She had a habit of working after everyone else did, and one-night Marvin approached her. 

“hi.” He said, causing her to look up abruptly from her desk and flush a brilliant red, “I noticed that you work late, and I wanted to let you know, you don’t have to.” He said, a charming smile on his face. 

Everything about Marvin was ingenuine, adulterated, carved specifically to the person he wanted to impress. He had been told by his new psychiatrist that he showed signs of sociopathic tendencies, but what did that guy know. 

“I do.” She said, blushing back down to her paper, “I’m an intern, I don’t get paid but there may be a job opening… but you knew that already.” Her face turned even darker as she subtly tried to hide it. 

“I did.” Marvin lied so smoothly through his teeth. “how old are you?” he asked.

“twenty-“

“-Jesus.” Marvin cut in, “-when I was twenty I was out drinking, not working this hard.” Lie number two, “what’s your name?” 

“Trina.” She said lightly.

So much lost potential, she was intelligent, with more emotional intelligence than Marvin too. A genius in her own way.

They had several small conversations, which turned into Trina waving to Marvin whenever she would see him, which turned to Marvin having longer conversations with her. Until one day, she kissed him. It was sweet and soft, like vanilla ice cream, and they had sex. 

Nothing special, she confided in him that she was a virgin, and Marvin felt a great deal of power when he slept with her. 

Trina would never tell anyone, but she was really the one with the power. 

Staying late so she could maybe see him.   
Kissing him.   
The condom she had poked holes through with a pin.  
Crying in his arms when she told him she was pregnant…  
Telling him he would have a scandal on his hands if they didn’t get married.

Marvin sat up in bed, gasping for air. 

“baby, baby, what’s wrong?” Whizzer asked, instantly sitting up next to him, delicately rubbing his back as his eyelids drooped closed. “Marvin?” 

Marvin finally caught his breath, he was going on fifty now, not in his prime anymore. “nightmare.” He said, focusing on the feeling of Whizzer’s fingers dancing along his spine, sending tingles through his body. 

“the usual?” Whizzer asked as he lay back down, trying to get Marvin to lie with him. 

Marvin’s eyebrows furrowed, “no.” he muttered as he tried remembering the details that were already hazy in his mind, “it was… it was about Trina.”

Whizzer snorted, “she is one scary woman.” He joked, yawning.

“it was more like a memory.” He said quietly, “when she first told me she was pregnant. There was something about it that felt scripted, rehearsed.” He stared into the warm, golden air in front of him, trying to picture the moment again.

“Marvin? Did you hear what I said?” Whizzer asked, shaking Marvin’s arm slightly, waking him from his daze “go back to sleep.”

Marvin yawned, “I’m up now.” He turned so he was sitting on the edge of the bed.

Whizzer caught Marvin’s hand as he pulled away, “hey.” He said gently, “stay safe. I love you.” He kissed his palm lovingly, gently.

“love you too.” Marvin smiled, delicately pulling away and walking around the bed, out of the room. He paused in the doorway, watching how whizzer curled up around his pillow, smiling as he inhaled deeply. Then he turned off the light, walking down the hall, feeling lucky to have this perfect man in his bed. His bare feet stuck gently to the marble floor as he made his way to his office, reaching slowly for the doorknob before doubling over. 

There were days when he ached for no reason, phantom pain coming from where his injuries were. 

He pushed through the door, breathing laboured as he tried to relax, shuffling to the desk and quickly opened the drawer underneath it, pulling the orange bottle of painkillers and swallowing two of them dry. He collapsed into the swivelling chair, wiping the sweat from his forehead as he waited for them to kick in. He must have drifted off because suddenly he woken by THEA announcing that spiderman was out.

Marvin got up, using the cane that he left in his office for when the chronic pain was almost unbearable, and hobbled on it to the secret room, unlocking the door and stumbling up the steps until he was standing in the suit, the front closing around him. The weightlessness he felt in the suit relieved some of the tension he felt in his muscles, but not all of it; so he tensed his jaw, following THEA’s directions until he was led to a bridge, his son sitting on top, swinging his legs through the air and chucking off rocks.

“suit looks good.” Iron man said, hovering in the air in front of Spiderman. 

He huffed, pulling his arm back as he spun another stone as far away as possible. His hand dropped to the narrow concrete separating him from the train tracks, scratching the gravel into his palm. “thanks, my dad made it for me.”

Iron man cocked his head to the side, remembering what Whizzer had said in the hospital. “the dark colours really suit you.” He said, realising it wasn’t the time to explain and floated down next to Spiderman, sitting beside him on the ledge, the pain still coursing through his body. “why the long face?” he asked. 

He watched as Spiderman’s head twitched suddenly and his ear directed to the side, “trains coming in five.” He said quietly. 

“what’s up.” Iron man said sternly.

Spiderman smiled lightly, “nothing you would understand.”

“try me.”

Spider man looked at Iron Man, a challenging glint in his eyes under the mask. “I think I’m in love with my best friend.” He stated, plain and simple. He got up, looking down the seventy-foot drop, and stepped off. 

Iron Man watched as spiderman looked so free and peaceful in the air, not struggling at all until a second before he hit the ground, he threw a web up, swinging around the bridge once and landing on his feet, so far away, he looked almost ant like on the ground. Iron Man followed, looking around until he saw the kid, standing in front of a graffitied image of Donald Trump. 

“I did this the night I became spiderman.” He said, running a hand over the wall, watching as spiders scuttled out, “the one good thing about this has been me not being afraid of spiders anymore.” he let out a cold laugh before sighing. His voice began to crack, “I just keep getting hurt and I want to be normal.” 

Iron man approached him cautiously, trying to comfort the boy, “Jason, you don’t-“

Spiderman’s head suddenly snapped around, “how do you know my name?” he asked coldly, a single chill running through his spine.

“look, jas-“

“how the fuck do you know my name.” he was suddenly in a fighting stance, arms guarding his face. 

“calm dow-“ Iron Man stopped as suddenly he received a hologram, the image appearing in front of his face. It was Whizzer, tablet shaking in his hand and he seemed to be running through the factory. “what?” he asked, urgent as he knew something must have happened. 

“they’ve turned them on. They’re all in the same place, I’m binging you the location now.” 

A map popped up on Marvin’s screen and Spiderman relaxed as he watched iron man grapple with thin air, raising his eyebrow at the craziness of this man. 

“okay, we’re not too far away. Thanks baby, talk later.”

Whizzer clenched his jaw, “stay safe, I have a bad feeling about this.” The screen disappeared and Iron Man could see the blank look on Spiderman’s face, “we need to go, the trackers have been turned on.” 

Spiderman stared, watching as suddenly iron man took off into the air, and followed. “how do you know about the trackers?” he asked as he caught up with Iron man, his swings uneven as he trailed next to him. 

“probably the same way you know about them.” Iron man deflected. He took a sharp turn into a tunnel, and spiderman followed, feet first, the momentum carrying him forward as he dove into a roll, picking himself up instantaneously into another swing. 

“what’s the plan?” Spiderman asked. 

“we go in guns blazing-“ iron man yelled behind him, and suddenly the pair heard the loud engine of the train, speeding up as to try and out run it, Spiderman feeling the hot air it expelled on the back of his neck. He dove forward, so close to the edge and flung himself out of the way, falling painfully off the other end of the bridge. He hit the ground and the air was knocked out of his lungs, body still for a moment. He looked up to see iron mans outstretched hand and took it, wheezing as he was hauled up to his feet. “you good?” 

Spiderman nodded, unable to form any words. He bent over, hands on his knees and took a moment to catch his breath. “how far are we?” He asked. 

“it says we’re here.” Iron man said shrugging. He looked around curiously, walking to the wall beneath the tunnel. He traced his palm over the wall, “activate thermal vision.” He said, and suddenly the spot on the wall turned a bright red. Iron man turned, facing the red blob amongst the blue that was Spiderman. “there’s something here.” He said, the thermal imaging disappearing. He turned back to the wall, “now we just need to find a way to-“

Suddenly a blur pummelled into the wall next to him, bricks and dust flying everywhere 

“-get in.” Iron man finished, coughing slightly, “guess that solves one problem.” 

From the dust, he could see the shadow of spiderman, a gloomy figure as he rose from his knees. The dust settled as Iron man stepped into the almost cartoonish hole in the wall, fanning away any stray particles and stopped.

“Spidey?” he whispered, “where’d you go kid?” 

It was dark, too dark and Marvin was beginning to get the familiar crawling of skin and high functioning imagination that would occur whenever he tried to sleep without a light. Suddenly he saw the peeking of a cold light down the end of the long shadowy tunnel, and silently, he took cautious steps along it. The exposed brick became a cool blue, mirroring a hospital interior and Iron man finally made it to the end, pressing his back against the wall before he leapt around the corner, gauntlets held outwards. 

His arms fell to his side as he saw what was in front of him. 

“what the…” he trailed off, jaw falling wide open. 

“oh my god.” Spiderman whispered, emerging from behind him. “oh my fucking god.”


	27. chapter 27: Lana

Chapter 27:

Metal claws the size of buildings suspended in the air, sharp and glinting in the bright neon lighting. The interior of the room was a brilliant white, stretching on for miles and miles, an almost exact replica of the secretive lab hidden in Feldman industries except… barren and empty, no one rushing around.

It was eery, too quiet as though they had entered a mirror world. The same, but different.

Spiderman was the one to break the silence, “okay this can’t be-“

“it’s not.”

“it looks the same-“

“it’s not. We’re miles away… what the fuck?” Iron man did a single spin turning back to spiderman he opened his mouth to speak when suddenly they heard the distinctive clunk of an emergency door opened. They both froze suddenly, and Spiderman put a silent finger to his lips, throwing a web to the ceiling, so far up he couldn’t even see it, and quickly reeled himself up. Iron Man pressed a tiny button on the inside of the gauntlet on his wrist and he quickly faded into the background.

On the ceiling, spiderman crawled upside down, his hands pattering against the white tiles as he stuck to them. He spun another web, holding onto it as he dropped down slowly, inch by inch. He let go and landed on a dark metallic machine, not sure what it was as he hid amongst the copper pipes. He edged his way along a thin pipe, twisting and contorting his body as he tried to fit into the tiny gaps.

The darkness of his suit blended into the scene behind him, the steampunk nature of the exposed pipes and metal. He waited in the shadows, watching as a lady strutted in, not noticing that she had company. Her heels were tall and sharp, clicking with every step she took, and she wore a sleek beige sweater dress, showing only her high thighs where the gap lay between her mini dress and her thigh length heels.

She looked vaguely familiar, spiderman thought, but he wasn’t sure where from.

She stopped in front of a machine, her back turned to him, and he emerged quietly from the shadows, watching with his breath held.

“what do you want me to do this time?” She asked the room, a strong hint of sass in her voice as she spoke. At her feet, a control pad rose from the floor, and she tapped a couple of buttons. A large hologram appeared, a woman with steel grey hair and a dazzling pearl necklace. She was incredibly skinny, her collar bones protruding dangerously from beneath her pale bluey grey dress. Spiderman shrunk into the shadows again, afraid to be spotted. “Malory.”

“took you long enough.” The woman on the screen had a voice so icy, Spiderman could feel the room suddenly get colder.

“fuckkkk…” the woman muttered under her breath, not loud enough for the woman on the screen to hear, “why am I here Malory? It’s stir Friday”

“I need another drink, you’re still with my son?” The woman on the screen asked, snapping her fingers as a glass of, what spiderman assumed to be vodka, was handed to her. She drained it and almost immediately a second one was replacing it

“yup.” She said, rolling her eyes, “what am I doing here?”

“you need to test the machine.”

“we have tech guys for that- “

“do you mind?” the icy woman said, past the camera, “I’m trying to work!” Spiderman clamped a hand over his mouth as he heard five shots being fired. She put down the gun, and suddenly her face was large and incredibly close to the camera as she stared at the Woman in the lab, “My god! What shade is your lipstick, crackwhore red?!”

“it might sound like I’m hanging up but…” the woman clicked the screen and the woman disappeared from it, “thank god.” She said to herself, clicking through buttons. Suddenly the machine came to life, the two halves cracking like an egg.

A manic howl echoed through the room.

“what the shit?!” the girl exclaimed as a man the same height of her suddenly fell from a grate next to her. He stood straight up, removing the almost comical spy goggles from his face as he stared at her.

“Lana. “he said, “Lana… LANAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!” he yelled in her ear after she didn’t respond.

“WHATTTTTTT?”

He stared at her “do you like my tactical turtleneck.”

She rolled her eyes, turning back to the machine and started typing. The man was striking, his hair so dark, it was a midnight blue, sleeked back into a comfortable style. He was wearing, what looked to be, a cashmere turtleneck, holsters strapped beneath his armpits.

“I want to press the button.” he said as though there was no question about it.

“nooope!”

Suddenly the ice woman, Malory, appeared on the screen again, “Don’t you dare hang up on me Miss Kane. What is that on the floor sterling?” she asked as she saw the red sticky substance dripping off of the man’s face onto the white tiles.

“the wet blood, Mother, is mine!”

“and it’s ruining my brand-new tiles!” She scoffed at him. “now Lana, you need to make sure your hole isn’t too small. And don’t forget it goes both ways.” Malory instructed.

The man stared at the screen, “umm… phrasing.” Sterling said, causing the woman to sigh, “also why aren’t I doing this, she hulks hands are giant!” he whined.

“hey! they are perfectly normal sized for my body!”

“sure thing _Lana_.”

“I will strangle you with my she hulk hands“

“she’s gonna split her pants and go crazy like the hulk-“

“you wanna see crazy!?” she asked, taking a single jab at his throat. He fell to the floor, spluttering and coughing as she went back to the computer, “6 feet tall is somewhat normal for a woman.” she said to herself, turning back to the screen, “and what is he doing here? Since when is babysitting archer my j—oh my god, that’s exactly my job!” She sighed at her realisation before pressing more buttons as the man struggled to his feet beside her.

In the shadows, Spiderman decided to get a closer look, slinking back into the darkness and listened to the pair bickering. He leapt to the next machine along, silent like a spider, and from his higher vantage point could see the very centre of the cracked open machine.

Quickly, he photographed the centre, not sure how he could describe it, and watched how the large metal prongs began to spin, faster and faster until he could no longer see them. Then suddenly, he heard the woman yell and a blast of light shot through the room, reflecting intensely off of the brilliant white floors.

“Archer, you are so STUPID!” the woman yelled, a hand covering her eyes as she squinted at the computer pad, frantically pressing at buttons.

Spiderman covered his own face, the temperature in the room rising and from the corner of his eye, he watched iron mans’ suit flicker into visibility, and him subsequently look down and dart behind a machine.

“Lana, turn this stupid thing off!”

“I don’t! know! How!” the girl exclaimed, a strong flurry of panic flooding her words.

Spiderman uncovered his eyes, trying to get them used to the brightness, and slowly tried to look at the machine His eyes burnt at how bright it was, and tears began to stream down them as he stared. He managed to make out darkness, in the centre of the white light, a black tear forged into it, and suddenly he felt the gradual pull of it.

He quickly grabbed a web, creating a harness and strapped himself into the strongest of the pipes he could find.

“Archer! It’s too big.” The girl yelled over the loud woosh of the spinning claws. The man quickly grabbed her waist, securing the pair in place with a snare gun.

“phrasing.” He shouted back as she kept tapping at the keyboard, hoping to do anything to make the pull lesson as they all felt the sucking sensation of the tear. “let me.” He pushed her behind him, and she huddled around his waist, watching as he pressed a few random buttons.

“this is your fucking fault!” the girl yelled, her slicked back pony tail whipping around her face, “all of this is your fault, I could be with my child right now, but instead I’m galivanting around the world because your mother put a gun to my forehead when I was in college. You little- you sack of shit, please don’t speak to me, Ever! And, while you’re not speaking to me, jump up your own ass and die!”

As she said the last words, the light suddenly dissipated and the pull subsided, the pair falling to the ground, grumbling at how hard the floor was.

“what was that _Lana_?” The man asked, his obnoxious voice carrying loudly through the air.

“noooope! I am not thanking you because it was your fault.” The woman quipped, detaching herself from beneath him. She got up, pressing several buttons on the keyboard and the sterling woman appeared once again, “It works Malory.”

The woman fiddled with her pearls, a martini glass now in her hands, “I’ll let Krieger know.”

“um Malory, Krieger has been missing for months.”

“he has? I just thought that sex robot of his was keeping him busy.”

“no, I think he was captured by the Russians, but I’ve been too busy to check it out.”

The woman swirled her glass, scoffing, “ugh, I’ll get ray to sort it out.” She said, chilling the room again. She disappeared from the screen and the couple stood.

“come on.” Lana said, turning around. Spiderman ducked beneath the duct, peering out silently.

He could not place where he knew her from.

From the ground she picked up the man’s snare gun, handing it to him with a skyward look and he winked, shooting it up so it attached to the grate in the ceiling. And suddenly he was gone, retracting at a rapid pace.

“I really am babysitting him.” She said to herself. She folded her arms over her stomach, a moment of comfort before she pulled a gun from the holster below her armpits and stalked out, her figure swaying as she became out of eyeshot.

Iron man and spiderman stayed until they heard the clunk of the door closing and Spiderman leapt off of the machine. “iron man?” he asked quietly, peering around the machines.

“over here.” The voice echoed out, and he followed it, seeing Iron man on his knees as he rounded the corner.

He quickly rushed to his side, “you okay?” he asked.

“yeah, my suit powered down. What was that thing?” he ogled, getting up and flying to the machine, inspecting it. “I’ve never seen anything like this!”

“there was this tear in the air, a dark mass, the blackest black I’ve ever seen!” Spiderman said as he tried to describe it, “it sucked out all power, and with it, tried to take us too.” He recounted. “I recognised the lady. Lana… Kane I think her name was? There was something so familiar about her.”

“now that you mention it, me too. I just can’t put my finger on who it is.” He hovered silently to the ground next to spiderman. “come on, let’s get out of here, it’s giving me the creeps.” They followed the woman’s footsteps, cautious of anyone spotting them.

“oh yeah.” Spiderman said, becoming icy again, “how’d you know my names’ Jason?”

“I um…” Iron man trailed off

“and coming to think of it, how did you know this was an exact replica of Feldman industries?” Iron man stayed silent, stopping as they stood by the fire exit. “how do you know who I am?”

“THEA, run Lana Kane’s name through the interface.” He said, hearing her voice in his mask again as she rebooted.

Spiderman cocked his head, “THEA? My dad designed THEA.” He swung open the door as iron man bowed his head, stepping out into the pitch black.

“because I am your dad.” He said quietly.

Spiderman stood as still as a statue; eyes fixed on Iron man. He burst into giggles, doubling over, “what the fuck.” Spiderman laughed, “that’s fucking funny.”

They exited the building and Iron Mans suit split apart.

Marvin stepped out.

“because I am your dad.” Spiderman spun around as he heard his father’s voice rather than the metallic voice of the suit.

Suddenly the lights turned on, and Marvin’s eyes widened, looking up to the people standing with their phone cameras.

The machine caused a blackout, slicing through the city, darkness until that exact moment.

Time square. One of the biggest tourist destinations in the world, packed with people, filming and gawking at the welcomed darkness.

Skyscrapers and neon light suddenly illuminating the world.

Illuminating Marvin standing next to his iron man suit.

Cameras pointing centrally at Marvin Feldman, head of Feldman industries, trillionaire, was now seen by the whole world…

…as Iron Man.


	28. chapter 28: as building on chapter 3, maybe not all press is bad press

****SAVOUR THIS. SAVOUR IT, just... remember this chapter** **

****also smut warning and idk but this is prob one of my best chapters.** **

****OH YEAH, wrap it before you tap it people, don't be a dick like Marvin poo.** **

Whizzer was awoken late by a tiny padding at the foot of the bed. He sat up quietly, trying not to wake Marvin, he had been sleeping through the night recently, often not even needing to keep a light on. The tiny cat mewed lightly, and Whizzer smiled at its bright glowing eyes, picking it up and sitting it in his lap, crossing his legs as he rooted through his bedside table drawer. He picked out a pencil, sketching his sleeping boyfriend, then the kitten in a tiny pocket-sized notebook. He liked drawing out his favourite memories, catching the scenes in perfect detail, keeping them stashed around the house for whenever he felt down.

“what are you doing?” Marvin asked sleepily as he yawned, rubbing his eyes.

“nothin’” Whizzer smiled, leaning down to kiss Marvin. He returned the kiss with a smile, pulling away so he could stare at Whizzer’s beautiful, carved face.

He sighed, lovesick “what did I do to deserve you?”

“what did I do to deserve you?” Whizzer booped his nose as though he was a child, and Marvin laughed.

“I love you.” He said, nuzzling into whizzers chin.

He smiled, “I love you.”

“stop copying me.”

Whizzer laughed, “I love you.” He kissed Marvin, the kisses deepening as Whizzer went to straddle Marvin, giggling. Marvin began kissing up and down Whizzer’s neck as he fiddled at Marvin’s boxers, trying to pull them down as he moaned.

“ugh, you guys are so lovey dovey! It’s gross” the couple froze before sighing, Whizzer getting off of Marvin and sitting on top of the floofy covers next to him. Jason and AJ stood in the doorway, crinkled noses, miming themselves gagging. “And you were gonna do it with the cat watching?” Jason exclaimed loudly.

“what’re you doing?” Marvin sighed as the kids bounded into the room, sitting on the end of the bed as they began to sign over each other, communicating so fast with their own shorthand that neither of the adults could understand.

“okay, Okay!” Whizzer interrupted the pair, “let’s just slow down for a second.”

The children stopped, staring at him wide eyed. “oh wait! I thought you knew?” Jason exclaimed, turning to his Dad, “why haven’t you told him?”

Whizzer narrowed his eyes, “told me what?” He turned to Marvin, a stern look on his face, “Marvin?”

“heyyy baby, so I may have let it slip that I’m iron man, but it’s all chill and I love you.”

Whizzer rolled his eyes, “you know I’m surprised the world didn’t already know, you weren’t really… discreet.” He bent over, kissing Marvin lightly on the lips, “is this why we’ve been in here for two days?”

“oh my god, I may actually throw up.” Jason said, sticking out his tongue as AJ cupped a hand over her mouth in silent laughter.

Whizzer stuck his own tongue out at Jason, and they all began to laugh.

Suddenly Whizzer wasn’t scared anymore. Caring for someone can be daunting, his trust issues made him sabotage every relationship he had ever been in, but in that moment, he had a family. It wasn’t what he had expected as a child, not a white picket fence surrounding his cottage, not a wife who was sat in the front garden, picking beautiful flowers for their home, not himself playing with his son and daughter in the back garden, teaching them to be kind. It was what he really wanted, a man he loved who he wanted to be with forever and their children, smart and their own people.

He looked over to Marvin who was giggling, and smiled warmly as he caught his eyes, reaching out for Whizzer’s hand.

“I’ve called a press conference.” Marvin started, turning his body into Whizzers, “but I’ve got nothing, it’s all pretty self-explanatory.”

Whizzer nodded, still out of it, “how long do you have?”

“couple hours.”

“I’ve got a couple things to do, errands to run,” Whizzer kissed Marvin and heard the fake gagging of their children, rolling his eyes, “and you’ve gotta brush your teeth baby.”

“gross!” Jason said, getting off of the bed and going back to his bedroom, AJ following, waving as she left.

Whizzer went to the closet as Marvin ogled at his ass, wondering how he got so lucky that this man had even given him the time of day the first time they made a connection.

-

Whizzer would often work late; it was the only time he could get things done without distractions, or at least, that was what he told people. The real reason was so that he could see his boss, Marvin. He had grown the tiniest bloom of feelings in his stomach, it knotting and twirling whenever he saw him, but he pushed it down, satisfying it by taking glances where they shouldn’t belong.

But that didn’t stop him from trying. He knew Marvin had a wife and child; he had met them, all he could use to describe his wife was ‘sweet’ and ‘nothing special’, and the child, boisterous but intelligent. The one thing Whizzer refused to be was a homewrecker, so he kept the feelings to himself like he had done for years.

“Mr Brown? What are you still doing here?”

Whizzer looked up to see his boss in the doorway of the office. “working, what about you?”

“working.”

Marvin weaved through the workbenches until he reached Whizzers, taking a seat on the table, swinging his legs in the air. Whizzer followed the swinging legs with his eyes, the tediousness of it all causing them to narrow, “you’re short, aren’t you.”

“I didn’t notice.” Marvin said, sarcastic and slightly irritated, “so, Mr Brown, what are you working on?”

“nothing special, just…” he looked up at Marvin’s face for the first time and was struck speechless. The man had on some reading glasses Whizzer had never seen him wear before, he looked like he hadn’t slept for a couple of days and something about him that seemed aggressive and angry, something deep, brooding and sexy.

No more words were exchanged as Marvin grabbed the collar of Whizzer’s shirt, pulling him into a kiss, their teeth clashing but neither minding. Marvin hopped off of the desk and pushed off all of its materials, paper flying and fluttering to the floor as Whizzer sat on it, continuing to make out with Marvin as he ripped open Whizzer’s shirt, buttons popping and joining the paper on the floor. Their hands were messy and fumbling like their kisses, and the edge of the table dug into Whizzer’s thighs as Marvin held his knee between his legs, gently applying more and more pressure as whizzer crumbled into moans, unsuccessfully trying to un belt Marvin’s trousers. He gave up, jumping off of the bench, twisting Marvin around and falling to his knees, pulling down the trousers in a single swoop.

He began to suck Marvin’s dick, maintaining eye contact with him as he moaned and gagged. Marvin started to mutter under his breath, grunting slightly as Whizzer gripped his legs to steady himself. Whizzer pulled off, lips swollen and puffy, parted slightly, but Marvin had other ideas. He pulled Whizzer’s hair causing him to moan and held him in place, beginning to thrust in and out of Whizzer’s mouth, praising him as he blocked his nose with the other hand. Whizzer finally spluttered for air, coughing, and Marvin pulled away.

“oh my god, I’m sorry, was that- “

Whizzer pulled down his own pants after standing up, taking a seat on the desk, voice raspy, scratchy, “fuck me.”

He pulled Marvin into a kiss, and Marvin pushed him down as Whizzer gripped his ass, hitting his head on the desk.

“do… do you need- “Marvin began to ask in between gasps for air.

Whizzer wined, “no, just fuck me.”

The pair both gasped as Marvin sank into Whizzer, who bit on Marvin’s shoulder at the pain. For a second Marvin stood still, staring at the splayed man beneath him, whose legs were now over his shoulders, toes clenched tight. He had the fuzziest memory of it being a Friday and his wife needing to call for dinner soon, but that was before he snapped his hips out and back in again, Whizzer throwing his head back, growling as he gripped the back of the desk with his hands.

“you’re not even that tight you slut.” Marvin growled into Whizzer ear, the words causing Whizzer to smile, laugh slightly. With Marvin it didn’t make him feel insecure, so he let the smile stay.

A smile so beautiful Marvin almost felt bad for cheating on his wife.

Almost.

Whizzer scrunched his face as he got used to the pain, Marvin going at insane speeds that none of his other flings had ever reached, making him feel dizzy and fuzzy inside. But not in the usual way. He wasn’t present, instead living in a euphoric dream state and only managed to pull himself into reality as Marvin shoved his fingers into his mouth, shushing him. That was when Whizzer realised how loud he was being, his throat raw and dry. But he didn’t care, as Marvin hit the soft spot inside of him, eyes Widening as he chanted for him to keep going, and suddenly Marvin stopped, pulling out.

He bent over to kiss Whizzer, who wined, feeling empty and uncomfortable at not having cum.

“maybe next time, don’t want you going home in a pair of wrecked pants.” Marvin smirked and Whizzer gasped, “sooner if you come to my family dinner with me now.”

“you didn’t use a condom?” Whizzer asked, griding his teeth together, “you fucking jerk! it’s gonna hurt way more than usual tomorrow and- and now I’m going to have to book an appointment at the clinic because I _do not_ trust you and AIDs is still a big fuckin' thing and- and-“ Whizzer’s jaw dropped open as he caught his breath, everything hurting and aching, some in a good way, some in a bad. “you… you- family fucking dinner!? “He didn’t want to admit it, but suddenly he felt the knot of guilt build up in his stomach, the nausea washing over him.

“you… you- “Marvin mocked as he pulled up his trousers, wincing as they covered his own still hard dick. “dinner or I’ll leave your little- sorry, big issue.”

Whizzer clenched his teeth, angry at how slimy this man was, the guilt setting in, making him feel sick, but not as bad as the heat in between his legs and the stinging in his ass, and one of the most gorgeous men he had ever had sex with, standing in front of him.

And, Whizzer lived for the games.

“fine.” Whizzer said, getting up, nose high in the air and pulled on his own shirt, buttoning it up as high as he could, skipping a few holes as some of the buttons were missing. He then pulled up his trousers from around his ankles, wincing as he bent over. He went to walk to the elevator, but stumbled as his legs buckled, still feeling the fuzziness inside of him, mimicking the colours that swirled in his head. That had never happened before. Marvin caught him in his arms. “you’re a dick Mr Feldman.” Whizzer muttered into his chest.

“you’re gorgeous Mr Brown.”

For the first time in a while, Whizzer caught feelings.

-

“Can I pick you out an outfit for the conference Marv?”

Marvin nodded, knowing that Whizzer would do it anyway. He always seemed to make an estranged noise at whatever Marvin picked out until he got to something Whizzer wanted him to wear. He took out his Phone, going through his notes as he read out his ideas to Whizzer.

“Okay, so at the moment it’s between, ‘I’m iron man bitches, au revoir I’m off to fuck my boyfriend’- “Whizzer snorted as he picked up two ties, putting them up against himself in the mirror. “-or ‘blah blah blah, iron man, no war, all that jazz, questions.’”

Whizzer weighed the options, “well number one is… certainly entertaining.” He laughed, placing Marvin’s folded outfit on the bed as he took off his boxers, wearing nothing as he paced around the room, knowing exactly what he was he was doing to a sexually frustrated Marvin after their interruption earlier. “but number two… ugh it’s so boring. You need to do something big and gay.”

Marvin could feel Whizzers smirk as he looked down, seeing something… extremely big and gay. “well- I…” He looked up again, face flushed, “okay, but ‘big and gay’ isn’t exactly my style.”

“I’m sure you’ll think of something babe.”

-

“I HAVE NOTHING!” Marvin grabbed whizzer by the collar, shaking him on his tiptoes as he approached the press room.

Whizzer laughed at how flustered his boyfriend was “woah, hey, chill baby.” He prized Marvin’s hands from his collar firmly to stop him from messing up his newly ironed shirt, taking them in his own hands, “are you sure?”

“YES!” Marvin bounced up and down on the balls of his feet “all I have is ‘I’m iron man, all I want is to fuck my boyfriend and hug my son and cat. I’m one of you.’”

“shit.”

“I KNOW GOD DAMNIT!” Marvin paced up and down the large, open, well-lit curved corridor as he panicked. “WHAT AM I GONNA DO?”

Whizzer paused, biting his lip hard and thinking for a moment.

“Mr Feldman- “The pair turned to see Marvin’s assistant opening the door, the rowdy press inside getting louder as Marvin got later, “-I can’t stall anymore.”

“what am I gonna do?” Marvin asked again, turning back to Whizzer, eyes wide. He pulled his hands out of Whizzers, wiping his brow.

Whizzer smiled, a tiny, nervous smile, “I have an idea.” He said.

“thank the fucking lord, what’ve you got?” Marvin asked, letting out a sigh of relief.

Whizzer smirked, “don’t you trust me Marv?” He batted his eyelashes innocently. Every time he made that face, Marvin wanted to fuck it out of him, he wasn’t really innocent, not in the slightest, not in any way.

“When you make that face, no. What are you going to say?”

“it wouldn’t be a surprise if I told you.” He smiled, pecking Marvin on the lips.

The door opened again, “Mr Feldman!” The assistant said, beginning to panic.

“alright alright! You’re as bad as my ex-wife!” Marvin scorned. Whizzer kissed him sloppily on the cheek and led him through the doors, holding his hand as they sat down at the long table. The press went almost animalistic as they entered, the wait making them vicious and rabid, but Whizzer’s bright smile was enough to calm them down, Marvin included.

He tapped his microphone, but Whizzer put a hand on his his arm, shaking his head slightly. Something about that made Marvin realise how much he had changed. If that was Trina, or even Whizzer at the start of their relationship, he would’ve ignored it, been pissy with them for a week, but now he felt comfortable, and happy that Whizzer was taking charge for a change.

Whizzer cleared his throat into the microphone and the world stopped moving for a second, Marvin glad to see that everyone was effected by Whizzer the way that he was.

“Hello everyone.” He waved in a very Whizzer way, his whole hand swinging back and forth as though he was drunk, very innocent as if he was a toddler. The room laughed slightly, comforting whizzer a bit before he continued, “my name is Whizzer Brown, I am the head architect and the product design manager of Feldman industries, and before you ask, no I did not sleep my way to the top, but I am dating Mr Feldman.” Another laugh murmured through the crowd, this one growing slightly more than the first. “You all must be wondering why you’re here, and to tell you the truth, so is Marvin. Quickly, before I go on to what I had planned, I would like to announce that, yes Marvin Feldman is Iron Man. As quoting him- “Whizzer glanced down to the piece of paper he had jotted a couple of notes on “- I’m Iron man bitches, au revoir I’m off to fuck my boyfriend’- “

“-in all fairness is said that whilst we were in bed.” Marvin tried to cut in over the press’ laughter. The crowd took a moment to settle, Marvin going rather red with embarrassment of his boyfriend exposing him.

“Now onto better things.” Whizzer continued, Marvin scrunching his forehead in confusion, “Marvin, if you told me that this is where I would be, hell, a year ago, I would have said, ‘in your dreams’. I have always been afraid of staying with one person for too long, scared they’ll try to hurt me. I’ve been in bad relationships in the past, I’ve sabotaged my good ones, but even my worst experience has given me three things. The understanding that I’m never trapped even though it may feel like it, a beautiful and smart daughter, and you, Marvin. That’s why I’m not scared anymore.”

Marvin felt his neck heat up slightly, and legs turn to jelly as he saw Whizzer stand up, reaching into his coat pocket and pulling out a tiny velvet box only he could see. “Whizz? What are you doing?”

“I Knew from the very first day I met you that I loved you, it may sound cliché and… and sickly sweet, but you will always be the klutz of a man who I caught in my arms my first day in the office. You make me feel giddy, and my knees go weak when you smile.”

Marvin started to breath heavily, shaky as he inhaled.

“This morning, when we were lying in bed together, with the children joking around, I knew that I wanted to stay in that moment for the rest of my life. That I finally had a real family, and that made me certain.” His voice began to crack as small tears of happiness fell down his face, “ I knew that I wanted to wake up to you every morning, that I wanna have sex with you and only you forever, which is the biggest commitment out of all of these by the way.”

Marvin laughed, trying to hold back his own tears now, looking skyward as he wiped his eyes, hands covering his mouth.

“I want to be able to scoff at how bad your outfits are every single day, I want to be the person that drags you from your office when you haven’t slept in four days, I want to make you pizza, but make it without cheese just for you because you’re weird like that.” Whizzer laughed, wiping his eyes as they started to ache from the pooling of tears, “I love you so much, way too much for one human being to feel. it hurts when I’m not around you, even if you’ve gone to get a condom or something. Why is this getting sexual?”

“because everything you do does.” Marvin smiled, weepy in his pure joy.

“you’re right.” Whizzer laughed, the tears clouding his vision in a way so he could only see Marvin “Marvin, I could be here all-day listing everything I love about you. But, if you want, we can have the rest of our lives to do that.”

His voice was reduced to a whisper as he got down on one knee, hands shaking as he managed to prize open the little velvet box, a gasp echoing around the room, “Marvin Feldman, before our children go to college and suddenly stop being interested in us, will you marry me?”

Marvin’s tiny sniffles and occasional tears, that he had tried so hard to hold back, turned into full on floods “you said our children.” He wept, suddenly nodding his head aggressively, “yes!” he cried, gripping onto Whizzer at full force, both of them falling into a tiny ball on the floor as Marvin peppered Whizzer’s face with kisses.

“you’re a dick Mr Feldman.” Whizzer muttered quietly into his ear once the pair had finally calmed down, snot and tears dripping down his face.

Marvin took Whizzer’s face in his hands, trying to ingrain it in his memory forever, “you’re gorgeous Mr Brown.”


	29. the final battle

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'VE GOT A NEW BOOK READY FOR AFTER THIS!!!!

Chapter 29: the final battle

The moment it pieced together in Jason’s brain was while Whizzer and Abbie jean moved into the penthouse a few weeks later.

Marvin and Jason were stood at the kitchen island, Jason stealing sips of his Father’s beer as they both watched, with the exact same expression, Whizzer and Abbie Jean trying to move Whizzer’s sofa out of the elevator, continuing to make accidental friends references as he yelled, “pivot, pivot!”.

They had been back to the clone of Feldman industries, seeing a scientist and the same woman several times, wearing the exact same sweater mini dress in a spectrum of different colours. Her face was, again to both Marvin and Jason, very familiar, something that made them feel as though they knew her, but had never met her, as though she was the woman who came in a picture frame.

The exact moment it made sense was an odd one.

The pair were leaning against the kitchen island, Marvin’s head on the bench and Jason’s head in his hands, massaging his pounding temples.

The move had been very tiring for both of them.

The exact moment was when Abbie Jean suddenly dropped the corner of the sofa onto her foot and she yelped, a sudden anger in her eyes as she stormed away, obviously annoyed after the whole day of unpaid labour.

There was a second, where her eyes glinted and her cheekbones popped out, her hips swaying as she stomped to the fridge, grabbing one of Marvin’s beers and popped the top off with her teeth, spitting the cap onto the floor.

She downed it as Marvin, Whizzer and Jason all stared at her, not objecting as they watched. She slammed the empty bottle onto the counter and turned, a scary expression on her face.

And that was the exact moment when Jason suddenly straightened up.

“hey girlllll…” he said, sidling up to her trying not to get murdered.

‘ _what the fuck do you want fuckface.’_

Jason swallowed, not sure how she’d take the next question, “uhhh… what was your mum’s name?”

She squinted, _‘Lana, why?’_

And that was the exact moment they both knew why they recognised her. Photos that sat on AJ’s bedside table, the similarity in their faces, the same bone structure and Marvin stood up, staring wide eyed before turning to Jason.

“you think-“

Jason nodded, “I think.”

‘ _What?’_

“um- nothing?” Jason said, phrasing it as more of a question. “Dad, can I talk to you for a moment?”

“yes, let’s go to my office.”

They sped down the hallway, Jason closing the door behind them.

“so her mum’s alive? What do we do! We can’t tell her, or do we have to? That’s so cruel” Jason started, Following Marvin as he pressed several of the buttons on the keypad. “so did she fake her death or was she—”

Marvin put his hand up, and instantly Jason stopped talking, following him through the doorway to the lab with the iron man suit. Marvin quickly tapped the keyboard of the super computer, bringing up the FBI interface. Silently, he managed to hack into the system, typing ‘Lana Kane’ into the interface. A file came up.

“that’s her!” Jason exclaimed.

Marvin nodded, clicking it, as the details expanded, “it’s confidential.” He said, “wait a moment-“ He continued to type, his fingers moving at lightening speed. Suddenly the file opened. “here.”

Jason scanned the document, “what does it mean?” he asked reading it.

Marvin’s forehead creased, “it says she’s a CIA contractor.”

“I thought she was an… art… person?” Jason said trying to remember what Abbie Jean had told him.

“yeah, an art consultant, Whizzer told me she travelled all the time…”

“could be a front?” Jason suggested “why would she fake her death? Why didn’t she tell Abbie Jean, that’s just… that’s so cruel?”

“I don’t- I don’t know.” Marvin said, it was unusual for him not to know something. He wasn’t used to the feeling. He paced to the window, staring out as he tried to form an idea, watching the bright city lights blinking and shining in the darkness.

Suddenly, block by block, the lights began to flicker, shaking through the air as suddenly the city plunged into darkness. “what the hell?” Marvin asked, staring out of the window and Feldman industries joined them in the midnight. A scream echoed through the penthouse and instantly Marvin and Jason stared to each other.

“it’s on, the… the machine is on!” Jason said, “we need to get there.” He ran from the room, sliding along the floor as he quickly changed into his spiderman suit. He almost tripped over the coffee table as he fell back into Marvin’s office, his father stepping into his own suit.

“I thought your suit powered down while it was on?” spiderman asked, “hey THEA, open the window.”

“yeah, I rewired it, stopped it from connecting to the grid.” Iron man said, taking off out of the window as spiderman followed, diving out of it and losing his breath as he fell through the air.

His thoughts automatically drifted to Abbie Jean, scared for her. How she lost her mother, or thought she did, the pain she went through piecing together her life after her reality was shattered. Being placed into strangers home with someone who didn’t even understand her language, being told they were related, moving away from anyone who could make her happy.

Spiderman yelped, pushing his body against the side of the tunnel as the train flashed past him at breakneck speed, how it was still on, he didn’t know.

How could a mother be so cruel that she not even leave a sign of life, that she would make her child go through the most difficult thing they can, by choice.

He watched his reflection in the train window, the mask with its wide fly eyes, the bright of the red and the dark of the black, the slightly shiny nature of the suit. So much more grown than the first time he had stepped off of those tracks to escape the train.

The dread in Jason’s stomach was too much. He knew something bad was going to happen. He could feel it loom and grow, sprout and shoot outwards, that hot sensation that trembles through your body.

His eyes closed and in a second, the train was gone, the air way too still.

“how is the train still worki…” Spiderman trailed off as the realisation hit him and Iron man stopped mid-air.

“what?” he asked.

“no. the tracks!” he pointed to them, a slight dance in his step, “wait! Don’t you get it? The tracks!”

“we need to go!”

“no, but-“ Spiderman stopped bouncing and scrunched his face up, gesturing into the air, “the tracks! They’re the only part of the grid that work! Don’t you get it!? They work as-“

“A circuit!”

“exactly, they’re the wires that make up the circuit with the, whatever that machine is, at the centre. This-“ spiderman spun in the pitch-black tunnel “-this and everything around it make up the power source!”

“that must be why the rest of the city blacks out when it turns on.” Iron man said, turning. The ruby hue from the eye piece shone through the air, stopping just before they reached spiderman. “the machine must be powerful.”

“but what the fuck could need that much power, it was this flash of light, then the blackest black I think I’ve ever seen…”

“I looked like a tear”

“it pulled; it was like It could…” Jason froze, “no, that’s not physically possible… there isn’t enough power in the world…”

“what are you thinking?” Iron man asked, continuing along the tunnel, spiderman following.

His blood froze cold as Spiderman said it. “a black hole.”

“that’s- that’s not-“

“it could be.”

“no, I would’ve been able to… to make one by now.”

“not if you didn’t have enough energy. This shuts down the city, renders even your suit powerless-“

Iron man exited the tunnel, standing in the still lightless air, “but I-“ he leapt off of the bridge, flying to the ground.

“-no, your ego cannot get in the way this time. There is… _something_ out there, sucking away the energy, countless people have already died, hell I almost died because of this!” Spiderman was now just Jason, and Jason was now just speaking to his father, not Iron Man. “all these robberies we thought were related, they were building up to make this!“ he paused, looking to his Father, “there is _someone_ out there, able to cause the whole world to crumble and end. And I think that’s what they are going to do.”

Marvin nodded, resigning slightly, “if this all goes south, I love you kid.”

Jason sniffed, voice high pitched as he tried to hold back the sniffles and the tears building in his eyes, his dad actually telling him he loved him was a raw area for him. “are you ready?” he asked, voice way too low as he tried to masculate himself.

They were stood by the hole they had carefully patched up in the wall, slipping bricks into place so removing one could cause them all to fall.

“yeah kiddo.” Were the last words Marvin uttered to Jason. They stood for a moment, praying to the god they both pretended not to really believe in, and the silence became almost too loud.

Silently, Marvin gestured to the wall and spiderman nodded, quietly taking the wall apart, brick by brick until it crumbled into dust. It poofed into the air as a sharp bullet of light graced the floor, they took a final look to the other, and Spiderman followed him through the hole. The corridor was bright, too bright and you could see every single scratch and bloodstain on the wall, the blood wasn’t there before… neither was the trail of bodies.

They followed them, stepping over them, tiptoeing down until they reached the end, Iron Man gesturing for Spiderman to stop as he winced, covering his eyes with his hand. He looked back to spiderman, putting up his hand into the air.

_Three_

Jason was greatly regretting that day about a year ago, going out, being bitten by the goddamn radioactive spider.

_Two_

Jason also was really regretting right about now not telling Philip that he didn’t want to just be friends and instead wanted him to bend him over and fuck him like there was no tomorrow. Or just a hug, a hug from the person he loved.

_One_

Marvin was regretting leaving without telling Whizzer he loved him one final time, afraid that he would die in that white, crisp room.

They leapt around the wall into the room, shooting webs and beams into the air as they tried to focus their eyes through the incredible white light. Suddenly Spiderman slumped over, and Iron man turned to see Lana Kane, Abbie Jeans mother, with her leg up in a high kick, her spiked heels sharp and ready to pounce. Iron man leapt out of the way as she went for a punch, catching her hand in his fist. He threw her across the room, and she made a loud grunt as the sound of bones cracking echoed. Iron man winced, quickly flying to the biggest machine, it’s prongs were spinning at incredulous speeds, the tear in time and space getting bigger and darker in its core.

He began typing into the computer, trying to switch the machine off as it’s pull began to make his suit freeze up, going jagged and glitchy.

The sound of the cocking of a pistol made Iron man freeze up.

He turned, spiderman on his knees, hands behind his head as he saw Lana, gun pressing into Spiderman’s skull, the metallic barrel causing Spiderman to wince and shake.

“please Lana, just put the gun down.” Iron man said, his hands hovering in the air as he backed away from the computer, showing her he wasn’t going to touch it.

She rolled her eyes, taking a fully automatic TEC-9 out of her second holster, “don’t move.” She said calmly, pointing it directly at Iron man, “I won’t shoot spider boy if I don’t have to.”

Iron man stayed stock still, not sure of what to say. This woman was a trained assassin.

“it’s _spiderman_ and your daughter’s one of my best friends.” Spiderman interrupted cockily, seeing his dad flounder, “she’s actually going to become my step sister soon.” He added, feeling the gun digging deeper.

“shut up.”

“my dad’s marrying Whizzer, Whizzer Brown, he was heartbroken when he heard you had died.” Spiderman continued, “and AJ, she was in a really bad state for a while. She’s just got her mental health back up, she’s just like you, you know.”

“she’s not.” Lana interjected. She pulled Spiderman up, gun moving from the back of his head to his temple and pushed him along.

“god, she does this thing where-“

“one more word and the floor won’t be white anymore.”

Iron Man and Spiderman’s eyes met for a moment and suddenly Jason swung his leg out and around, Lana’s feet being pulled out from underneath her as she fell to the floor. They wrestled on the ground for the guns, shots going off as Iron man turned back around, trying to find any way of switching it off.

“Lock system engaged.” A metallic voice spewed over the intercom system.

“shit shit shit!” Iron man cussed. He looked around, trying to find and off switch, but upon finding nothing, sighed. “I’m sorry.” He whispered, and quickly, he ripped out the glowing orb in the centre of the computer, attempting to make it stop.

The blades that spun only got faster and faster, not separate blades anymore, instead a gaussian blur.

“I don’t know how to switch this thing off!” He yelled into the air as suddenly, the pull began to draw everyone closer.

“you fucking idiot!” Lana yelled, “we’re all going to die now!”

Spiderman stopped fighting her, her arms pinned above her head, the guns sliding away across the floor, “wait, you’re trying to help us?” He yelled over the noise. They were beginning to be pulled towards the machine, so spiderman shot a web out, keeping his position above her.

“YES! because that’s my job! I’m a CIA contractor!”

“but you turned this on!” spiderman yelled back.

“I know! I’m trying to destroy it; this could kill everybody in New York!”

The blades continued to speed up and a loud whistling echoed through the chamber.

“how do you destroy it?” Iron man yelled, planting his feet firmly on the floor as the mask began to flicker and crack from side to side, whipping his head as though he was possessed.

Lana rolled her eyes, “there’s a manual off switch in the centre but it’s a suicide mission. It’s the only way to make it blow.”

Suddenly Iron man’s suit glitched and it split open, Marvin falling out, “that’s as long as it could hold on for!” He yelled, huddling under the desk. From across the room, small objects and Lana’s guns began to move, sucking into the dark mass and disappearing. “I can’t do this!” he yelled, hyperventilating.

The trigger words.

And suddenly his body became limp on the floor, beginning to drag towards the machine, his back curving uncomfortably around the computer.

Spiderman took a look between his dad and Lana, gritting his teeth. He stared at the woman beneath him, gripping onto the floor as her bangs whipped around her face.

“fuck-“ he muttered under his breath, “-Dad-“ he cried out, diving off of her, and letting the pull drag him towards his father. At the perfect moment, he flung out his web, attaching it to the opposite machine and swept up his dad in his arms. He quickly lay him down on the top of the machine, binding him with webbing as his father’s curly hair became a cloud around his face, catching in Spiderman’s mouth.

The iron man suit lay heavy on the ground, not even budging from the gravitational pull.

Spiderman turned to the machine, knowing what he had to do.

The web attached to the top of it, and he swung towards it. The air was knocked out of his lungs as he felt a rock plummet into him. He tried pushing it off, and turned to see Lana, her legs entangling in his. “what are you doing!?” he yelled as he tried to pull apart from her.

“saving your life.” She yelled back, they flailed through the air as he tried to detangle her.

They reached the tipping point and spiderman let go of the web, the pull suddenly becoming drastic as they landed on the top of the machine, getting down on his knees to hide from the light, securing himself sturdily in place. Lana landed next to him, pulling a knife out from high up her thigh, stabbing it into the metal that crumbled beneath it, using it as an ice pick, gripping onto it as she was pulled forwards.

He pulled off his mask as the light overwhelmed the sensitive eyepieces, his hair went static and he looked to Lana. “I’m a superhuman, I can survive this.” Jason said, his eyes honest and solemn, “you can’t.”

She smiled, and to Jason, suddenly he couldn’t hear anything but her, the wind stopping dead still around the pair, small silent tears running down her face. “tell Whizzer he hasn’t done too badly,” she joked, “and I don’t know why, but you look just like your father.” Jason didn’t have time to process what she said when the wind picked back up and she jumped into the centre, timing it almost perfectly.

_Almost._

She didn’t take into account the gravitational pull and suddenly, the spinning blades hitting her. Her body bounced like a coin, back and forth and she suddenly went limp, Jason gasping as she was suddenly sucked into the darkness.

She was gone.

He heard his Dad groan from across the room as he began regaining consciousness, slipping back in to the land of the living.

That was the split second he made up his mind.

He stood, the pull almost stronger than him, using the webbing as he slowly tried to climb into the machine, his head lolling back as he gritted his teeth, trying to pull it up, his centre of gravity askew. He let out grunts as he made it to the blades, they sliced at him dangerously, fine like garrottes. He counted the rhythm between the prongs, looking down as they spun, his back pressed firmly inside of the cylindrical wall.

_Three_

Scared.

_Two_

Lost.

_One_

Philip.

He jumped, the pull sucking him down, closer and closer to the stormy dark tear, narrowly missing the blades. He scrambled for anything to grab, hands reaching as he was pulled backwards screaming, the bright white light making his skin burn and the darkness creeping up on him. The sudden terror sliced through his stomach and he was sucked back. He felt the rush of adrenaline and clawed into the floor, his hands finally finding the smallest ridge, the tiniest gap between steel sheets and holding on, the pull almost unbearable.

“JASON!” he heard the yell of his father, but kept his eyes forward, the sticky pads of his fingers holding his floating body in place. His arms almost ripped from their sockets, but he managed to pull himself forward with his elbows, shimmying along the ground.

Then he saw it.

A button, small, obsolete.

Spiderman shimmied closer.

He was so close, the button within a fingers length, but he couldn’t reach it without letting himself fall.

He took a breath, and dove, his body reaching just far enough to hit the switch.

And then he was dragged back, scratching at the floor, trying something, anything as he smelt the singing of his own flesh, the blistering of his face, but he couldn’t stop.

“it’s not off!” He yelled, clawing at the floor, “IT’S NOT OFF!”

He looked over his shoulder at the intense black of the tear, his feet entering it as the heat rapidly burst into his feet.

And suddenly the black exploded into a white burst, so powerful it knocked Marvin over.

Then there was black.


	30. chapter 30: I'll let you win

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the final chapter, I will be posting the intro and first chapter of my new work later!! I hope you enjoy the final part because I've had a lot of fun with this!

Chapter 30: I’ll let you win.

Marvin felt it as soon as he awoke from his sleep, the emptiness. The loneliness. He sat on the side of the bed, not wanting to wake Whizzer, and just listened to the tiny patters of rain against the glass.

How fitting, he thought to himself, rain at a funeral. 

He closed his eyes and a single tear fell onto his lap, and he suddenly shuddered as he remembered the final battle as though it was yesterday, not the battle itself, but the aftermath. He cupped a hand over his mouth to silence the sobs, but Whizzer was already awake, stroking his shoulder and leaning his chin on the other one. 

“shhh… shhhh… it’s alright.” Whizzer sung lightly, “you’re ready to let him go.” 

Whizzer hated to admit it, like most things, but the death had affected him more than he had let on. It was the tipping point for him, the reason he was seeing a psychiatrist, and the doctor he had chosen had helped him rebuild some of his commitment and trust back up, reminding him that ‘the middle-aged man’ was not his fault. 

Marvin calmed down slightly, turning to kiss his husband lightly on the lips as he got out of bed, drawing the curtains wide and picking out his best black suit. On this dreadful day, even Whizzer knew better than to scoff at whatever he wore.

Across town followed similar scenes, Charlotte and Cordelia helping each other get ready, even Charlotte shedding a few tears that morning. She was by his side as he died, she was the one who had to break the news to Marvin. Cordelia, for once, sat still at their kitchen table, hands in a prayer motion as she just thought about all of the times, she had met him, growing fond of him. 

She didn’t realise that she loved him until he was gone. 

Charlotte joined her, sitting next to her, taking her hand in hers. 

“it’s been so long.” Cordelia said, breaking the silence. 

Charlotte sighed, kissing her palm, “exactly a year.” she breathed out heavily to avoid crying, getting up to go to the hall. She picked up two head scarfs Trina had leant her.

Jason wanted a traditionally Jewish funeral. 

She helped Cordelia tie hers, before tying her own. The black limo showed up at their door, the driver knocking, and Charlotte and Cordelia exchanged a look.

“I don’t what I’d do if I lost you.” Cordelia whispered in her wife’s ear, taking her hand gently and kissing it.

-

“Jason, Jason!” Marvin screamed at the boy, pulling the mask off as he checked if he was breathing. Nothing. He put his hand to his neck, digging his finger down hard into his skin to check If he had a pulse. His heart quickened as he felt the light, irregular murmur of his heart and pulled the boy over his shoulder, “someone, help!” he yelled out in the large echoey chamber, trying to find a way out so he could save his son.

-

Whizzer and Marvin sat in their own limo outside of the cemetery, watching the rain pound on the windows. 

“Are you ready Marvin?” Whizzer asked the other man, opening his door to get out.

“give me a second please.” Marvin replied as he tried to keep up his stoic appearance. Whizzer closed the door and his mask shattered as he wept. He was allowed to cry. 

-

“help, I need…” Marvin almost passed out on Charlotte’s doorstep, shoving Jason through the door as it was opened, “stopped breathing-“ he muttered as he fell to his knees, Cordelia quickly taking Jason’s armpits and helping Charlotte carry him onto the kitchen table, that had now become a surgical table. 

Charlotte quickly put her cheek to Jason’s mouth, not feeling any air, before taking his wrist, feeling again the extremely light pulse, hearing its irregular nature. “shit.” She said to herself as she made the first incision into his chest, not even waiting for Cordelia to administer the painkiller, then Marvin blacked out from his exhaustion. 

-

The four of them were gathered around the gravestone, solemn and melancholy as they waited for the remaining friends and family, Whizzer gripping onto Marvin’s hand hard, scared that he too would break down. 

“I’m sorry we’re late.” Mendel said as he rushed around the final car, helping Trina out of it as she leant on him Whilst going to join them. From her handbag, she took out several programmes, handing one to each couple. “Trina was having some morning sickness” He added as he placed a hand on his wife’s swollen belly.

“I’m sorry, but it was difficult finding ones of him smiling.” She said, holding a strong appearance as she looked down at the photo at the front, sniffling before bursting into tears.

-

“Marvin!” he was woken to one of Cordelia’s slaps to the face. “it’s time, you need to say goodbye.” 

Marvin quickly limped off of the couch to the table, seeing Jason as a shell of his former self, asleep, but a worried look on his face, not calm, not at peace. 

“you can pull through kiddo, you always do.” Marvin said, stroking Jason’s hair as he cried, a tiny smile of hope on his face. Charlotte entered, seeing Marvin break down over his son’s body as the pulse slowed even further. 

She placed two fingers to his neck as she felt it grind to a holt and shook her head as she made eye contact with Marvin, eyes wet even for a doctor. “he’s dead.” She whispered, and out of habit, quickly checked her watch. 

“time of death, 11:52 PM.”

-

Whizzer suddenly snorted with laughter, hiding it with a coughing fit as the whole group stared at him. “I’m sorry, but isn’t this all slightly melodramatic? Sorry baby, but that’s coming from me!” he laughed, “also, Jason requested you do a proper Jewish ceremony and he isn’t even here! He’s had a year’s notice, probably out somewhere fucking someone.”

“Whizzer Brown, my son is not fucking someone!” Trina exclaimed, gasping at the suggestion, the pregnancy hormones terrifying everyone as she snapped at the tiniest things.

Whizzer put his hands up in mock surrender, “alright Trina, how much you wanna bet?”

Trina firmly put her hands on her hips, “fifty.”

“make it a hundred.”

“you are so on.”

-

“do you want to turn it on?”

Marvin shook his head violently, “just do it.”

Charlotte reached to where Jason’s heart should be, instead, now a pacer matching Marvin’s, switching it on. 

“how long?” Marvin asked, voice hushed and raw from crying. 

Charlotte shrugged, monitoring his vitals, “around five minutes until we find out if he’s alive.” 

“he will be. I’m sure.” 

-

They all huddled under the umbrellas, Whizzer standing alone in front, holding his speech cards. “Murphy Marvin Feldman was the nicest and only cat I’ve met that I’ve actually ever liked. He may not have been there for me during my worst times, but he was with my husband, and together our experiences became one as we married.” He took a second, biting his lip to stop himself laughing. “I remember the first time I met Murphy, I thought I was hallucinating because I was about to orgasm, don’t look at me like that Charlotte! I hadn’t had good sex in at least two weeks, but now, I remember how majestic he was, how sleek he was, how good he was to Marvin.” this was all utter crap Whizzer had made up,” Murphy, you didn’t spend much time on this planet, but you certainly made a difference to it, may you rest in peace.”

-

The gasp for air as he sat up was enough to make Marvin cry again as he bundled his child into his arms, “Jesus Jason, I thought you were dead.”

Jason just sat there, in shock, crying with his Dad after coming to terms with what had happened, and suddenly he felt the pain in his chest and yelled out. Then he looked down, scratching at the pacer in shock as he forgot how to speak, just wailing loudly as Marvin tried to calm him. 

“Marvin!” Cordelia entered the room, holding out his Phone “It’s Murphy.” She said, melancholy and sad, so very sad.

-

The wake was held at a nearby bar, that was when Jason showed up. 

“Jason Marvin Feldman! Where have you been?” Trina exclaimed, her hormonal mood swings from being pregnant, very scary to the men in the room, “you requested the traditional funeral and weren’t even there! We could have got this all over and done a year ago!”

“Well, my helicopter from Rhode Island was delayed because of the rain-”

“HA, PAY UP WHIZZER!” Trina exclaimed and Whizzer rolled his eyes, reaching into his wallet. 

“- excuse me! - “Jason interrupted, “-I was going to say, I also had to pick up a friend.” From behind Jason Philip stepped out, giving the family a wave as they greeted him. “look, I’m gonna go to the bathroom, I’ll see you in a sec.” he said, kissing his mother’s cheek.

“wow Mrs W, congrats!” Philip began as he hugged the family, “so, you know the gender?”

“Pip my darling, it’s wonderful to see you.” Trina replied as she embraced him, “Actually, Mendel and I want it to be a surprise this time!”

“We didn’t want to enforce gender stereotypes on the child, they’re so harmful!” Mendel added. 

“well, good on you two.” Philip replied, “what about AJ, Whizzer, how’s she doing?”

Whizzer smiled proudly at the mention of his daughter, “she’s doing so well at Harvard, bless her, she can’t seem to fit everything in when she calls me!” he exclaimed, as he leant on his husband, holding his hands tight in his own. “how’s RISD treating you and Jason? It was some of the best years of my life!”

“honestly, it’s incredible I- “

“yes, we’re all very interested, but Philip-” Again, Trina’s pregnancy hormones terrified everyone as she interrupted, “Is Jason in a relationship, I’m worried about him!”

“oh shit, he didn’t tell you?” Philip laughed, watching as Jason entered the room again “Jason, why didn’t you tell your family we were dating?” He asked as he pulled Jason into a kiss, him becoming giggly and dizzy in Philip’s arms. 

“GIMME MY MONEY BACK TRINA, JASON WAS FUCKING HIM!” Whizzer exclaimed, almost knocking the table over as he leant over it, palm open wide as Trina sighed, looking for her purse that she couldn’t see over her large belly. 

“woah woah woah,” Philip interrupted, “Jason is so obviously a bottom.” He countered, slapping Jason’s ass, Jason wincing slightly

“pip!” Jason hissed into his ear, embarrassed, as Whizzer laughed, noticing himself mirrored in Jason at the wince.

Trina’s jaw dropped to her feet. “does not take after his father on that one then.” She muttered smarmily into Mendel’s ear, causing him to laugh.

“and when were you going to tell us?” Marvin asked, Whizzer nuzzling into him like a dog, the warmth comforting him.

“probably after I married his ass.” Jason replied, spinning back around to kiss his boyfriend.

Whizzer made a face, “Hey, remember when I proposed to your dad, that morning in bed you said, ‘gross, you two are so lovey dovey’ well now I get that.” He said, trying to hide the small smile that was sprouting on his face. 

Jason stuck his tongue out at Whizzer, throwing his head back as he laughed, “how’s married life Whizz?” He asked after he had calmed down, watching his Parents squabble in the booth. 

“perfect, wonderful-“ he sighed, lacing his hand gently into Marvin’s who quickly pecked him on the lips, turning back to his argument with Trina “-it’s so swell damnit, kind of hurts whenever I leave the room. God, I was never cheesy like this.” He laughed, “I just love him so much and I don’t understand!” 

“yeah, I get you.” Jason giggled as Philip hugged him from behind. “let’s grab a chair-“

“you mean, I grab a chair and you sit on my lap making me hard.”

“exactly baby.” Jason laughed, kissing him as Philip pulled a chair up to the table. 

Suddenly Trina turned to the pair, “so what does that make you, Jason?” Trina asked.

“what?”

“I mean, your father’s gay, I’m straight, Whizzer’s… well, Whizzer’s Whizzer-“ Whizzer laughed at Trina’s assessment of him, “-what do you identify as?” 

Jason cocked his head to the side, “I’m Jason.”

“sexuality Babe.” Philip whispered into his ear, nipping at it. 

“oh. I don’t know. I love Philip-“ Jason shrugged, “- I don’t need a label or a bracket or some sort of boundary that I can’t cross, right now, I want to be with Philip. I’m philipsexual!”

Whizzer’s mouth dropped open suddenly, “you’ve already told him you love him?” 

“Whizz, unlike you and Dad, we don’t need to torture ourselves for almost a year then break up for four or five months, then tell the other you love them in a bathroom stall before having sex for the first time since you got back together.”

Philip cocked an eyebrow, “they had sex in the stall?” 

“yup. Hospital bathroom”

“when you say it like that it sounds manky-“ Marvin interrupted, glancing at the disapproving look on Charlotte’s face.

“we should have sex in a public bathroom.” Philip whispered into Jason’s ear and Jason blushed.

“gimme a moment to recover.” He whispered back, not hating the idea.

“do you need me to have a look at your pacer?” Charlotte asked from across the table, the only person seemingly un enamoured by their relationship. 

“no.” Jason and Marvin replied at the same time, looking up at the other. Marvin smiled gently at Jason.

“I was talking to Jason. it’s been a year; he may need a check-up.”

“I’m good Charlotte, thank you though.”

“yeah, seems to be working pretty well-“ Philip interrupted, smirking at Jason who rolled his eyes, suddenly finding his position on Philip’s lap uncomfortable and tried to get into a better position, grinning as Philip stifled a moan. 

“Jason.” Trina hissed, “these were the exact tricks your father used to pull so please, not at the table.” 

Jason flushed a bright red again. With the rosy glow on his face, he was the spitting image of Marvin, messy hair and all. 

They left the bar after the service, Marvin offering them a taste from his scotch collection at home, and they all returned to Jason’s childhood home. The penthouse at Feldman industries. 

Now it had become Feldman-Brown industries, something that made Marvin smile every single time he went to work, whenever he would look at the business cards on his desk or the contracts he was asked to sign. 

Since the pair had properly moved in together, not that Whizzer wasn’t there almost twenty-four seven anyway, it had become somewhere Jason wished he had spent his childhood, wished he had spent the time before the world knew who he was. The walls were now colourful, the furniture not plain, instead pastel and patterned. Framed sketches Whizzer had done over the years lined the walls and even Trina could admit, it put her home to shame. 

Trina had tried being the housewife again, for Mendel this time, although the work out videos and cooking had become boring. It was better when she was married to a trillionaire. Instead, she started blogging from her home, using it to help other people who went through similar thing’s that she did, and now she had started a small business, hoping to help it grow. 

She was around eight months along with her pregnancy, not something she was expecting. She always knew there was a risk, considering how young she was when she had Jason, but still, she had already lived longer than she had ever thought she would, taking chances. In the beginning, she was terrified of having another child, but this time it would be the fresh start she had hoped for when she married Marvin.

Mendel was overjoyed with the news of the baby, a new life, someone he didn’t need to fix. He had realised that he didn’t actually like his job, and had packed it up, quit. He had spent his free time readying the house, making sure it was prepared for the baby. He was contemplating becoming a stay-at-home dad, not particularly wanting to find a new job and since Trina and Marvin’s divorce money had come through, they didn’t exactly need another source of income. 

Cordelia’s bar mitzvah business had taken off after she realised that she had been using the salt as the sugar and sugar as the salt. That sparked quite a large argument between her and Charlotte, although as per usual, they ended up giggling on the floor. 

Charlotte had almost been poached by the army again, recruiters coming to their door almost weekly until Cordelia had given them a piece of her mind. They renewed their wedding vows on their tenth wedding anniversary in the grave yard where Marvin’s lover lay. It was intimate, only the lesbians and Marvin with Whizzer, but it made up for them not inviting Marvin the first time. 

Then they poured a drink for him, resting it on the stone and Marvin realised without his death and without the pain he had suffered, he would have never met Whizzer. He silently thanked him, looping his arm into his husbands as he felt the final weight of the guilt he had always felt, lift off.

Abbie Jean had got a scholarship to Harvard, she had big plans for her future and had met a guy who she dreaded letting Whizzer meet. Since Whizzer had missed the first seventeen years of her life, he was very insistent on being the father that she needed and got very judgmental when meeting the boys she had brought home. 

He was almost always right about them, the previous one did turn out to be gay after all. 

All three of the kids had gotten early acceptances to collage, and accepted them, leaving far too soon for their parents’ liking. Jason had forced Philip to apply to RISD with him, knowing that although Philip said he wanted to be a lawyer like his father, actually wanted to design video games. So when they both got accepted, they instantly said yes. 

“hey Jason, you alright?” Whizzer asked, staggering slightly out of the bathroom as he passed Jason in the hall. 

“hmmm?” Jason hummed before looking up to Whizzer, “oh yeah, I was looking at this-“ he pointed to one of the drawings on the wall, the family all gathered around his hospital bed from the time he got shot. “-did you draw this, I don’t really remember?”

Whizzer chuckled, “yeah, you were pretty high at the time.”

“ohh, pain meds.”

Whizzer giggled, “no, you made me get your weed when your mum was getting slightly too worked up. She tried making the hospital room look ‘lovely’” 

“oh fuck-“ Jason laughed, “now I remember, we thought we were being so subtle.” 

“I think I was doing better than you, kid, you tried to make the plant grow with your mind, you looked like you were having an aneurism.” 

They laughed for a moment before Jason turned to Whizzer, “thank you.” He said honestly out of the blue.

“for what?” Whizzer asked.

“for making my dad a good person. He really needed you, and you stayed even after he was a dick. So thank you-“ He cut himself off as he almost called Whizzer Dad, smiling instead.

Whizzer smiled, knowing what Jason meant, ”you’re welcome.” He said quietly “okay, be honest. You definitely have daddy issues right?”

“ew I’m not discussing this with my step father.” 

“ew, you’re not calling me your step father, makes me sound old.” The smile lines around Whizzer’s eyes were no longer hidden anymore, the worry lines on his forehead and the grey tinge to his hair were too much for him to be able to do anything about them. But now that Whizzer was happy, and healthy, (the weight of his past finally lifting) he looked younger in his own way.

“there you are!” the pair turned as Philip catapulted himself at Jason, “what’re you lookin’ at?” he asked looking at the drawing. 

Marvin followed, laughing with an arm wrapped around Trina, rolling her eyes as she was the only sober one. Charlotte and Cordelia were either side of Mendel, patting his back as he had a midlife crisis of becoming a father and how honoured he felt to finally be one.

Somehow the family all congregated in the hall way, standing in front of the sketch of Jason in the hospital. Marvin sneakily took a slap at Whizzer’s ass, and he was quickly wrestled into a tight hug. “I love you.” Marvin whispered into Whizzer’s ear.

“I love you too.” Whizzer smiled, leaning his head onto Marvin’s shoulder. 

And there they stood. 

A tight knit family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so! 
> 
> what was your favourite part? 
> 
> who was your favourite character?
> 
> and most importantly, did you enjoy it?


End file.
